
i 



ADVANCED 

AUCTION BRIDGE 



By THE SAME AUTHOR 

ROYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 

With a Chapter on Contract Bridge, and con- 
taining the Laws of that Game and the Laws of 
Royal Auction Bridge as approved by the Com- 
mittee of the Portland Club (May, 1914), with 
Explanatory Notes by the Author. 

Fcp. Svo, 55. net. 



LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 
London, New York, Toronto, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras 



ADVANCED 
AUCTION BRIDGE 



BY 

"BASCULE" 

I I 

[late bridge editor of the " ILLUSTRATED SPORTING AND DRAMATIC NEWS," 
AND AUTHOR OF "THE RULES AND PRINCIPLES OF AUCTION 
BRIDGE," "ROYAL AUCTION BRIDGE," ETC.] 



With the latest Portland Club Rules {igi4) and 
Numerous Illustrative Hands 



NEW EDITION 



LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E.G. 4 
NEW YORK, TORONTO 
BOMBAY, CALCUTTA AND MADRAS 
1922 



^•5 



SIQ 22 ISiS 



c c 
c c c 



xA/acZc in Great Britain 



PREFACE 



When the last edition of this book was exhausted the 
introduction of Contract Bridge in place of Auction 
seemed to me so imminent that I advised its then 
publishers, Messrs. Thomas De La Eue & Co., not to 
bring out another, which might at any moment become 
unsaleable, but to stay their hands and await the turn 
of events. How completely this anticipation of mine 
has been falsified — in this country, if not abroad — is 
doubtless known to the reader, and, as a consequence, 
while the book which I was prepared to write, should 
Contract become popular, has never been written, my 
Advanced Auction Bridge has for the last year or two 
been out of print. 

That this has proved any great deprivation to the 
card-playing public, who for years past have been 
overwhelmed with books on Auction Bridge, many of 
them of a nature to do them considerably more harm 



vi 



PREFACE 



than good, I do not for a moment suggest. But, still, 
as this little book of mine happened to contain as lucid 
an account as I was able to give of my considered 
opinions on the game, and I do not suppose that I shall 
ever write another, I was loth to let it drop out alto- 
gether, and so I made arrangements with its present 
publishers, Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co., by whom 
my other books on Bridge have been issued, for its 
re-appearance. 

I have done my best in re-editing to bring Advanced 
Auction Bridge up-to-date, and to give all necessary 
information as to the conventions of the game as it is 
played to-day; but I do not claim that I have been en- 
tirely successful, because there are points in connection 
with Auction Bridge upon which few people are in 
complete agreement. The opinions I express, it should 
be understood, are my own opinions, based on my own 
personal experience as a card-player, and not anyone 
else's ; for, though in matters of * convention — the 
meaning to be attributed to certain bids, the leads, and 
so on— I am at all times ready to go with the majority, 
in matters of tactical principle I am adamant^ and 
insist on striking out the line which commends itself to 
my own judgment, no matter what anyone may have to 
say on the opposite side of the argument. 



PBEFACE 



vii 



I am considered by my friends, I believe, to be a 
somewhat forward caller, and in the following pages 
I make so bold as to recommend to my readers just the 
kind of calls that I would make myself in actual play. 

These may offend against certain principles which 
have been laid down by other writers ; but I am con- 
vinced, nevertheless, that in the long run they will 
prove profitable, and enable one to win a majority 
of one's rubbers at the expense only of being thought a 
little unorthodox, which after all is not very serious. 
For instance, it is a belief of mine, founded on years of 
experience with all sorts of partners and against all 
sorts of opponents, that you should always make a first- 
round call when you can, not wait for the opportunity 
of saying something later, and that you may call pretty 
well SjUjihing 2^rovided only that you do not overcall the 
general strength of your hand. This, in my opinion, is 
a great Auction principle, which will carry the player 
who acts consistently upon it through all sorts of diffi- 
culties. 

One hears a lot about " quick tricks," the necessity of 
holding top honours in the declared suit, and so on, but 
in my view the vital question which the Auction player 
has to ask himself is : " Is my hand worth any tricks 
at all ? " If it is, then it follows almost inevitably that 



viii 



PEEFACE 



there must be some call which he can reasonably make, 
and he need not bother very mnch whether his tricks 
are quick or slow ones. If it is not, then he has a col- 
lection of rubbish about which he cannot keep too quiet. 

''BASCULE." 



London, September, 1922. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Pbeface , . , V 

Laws of Royal Auction Bridge and Notes . . . l 
Three-Handed Royal Auction Bridge .... 42 
Etiquette , . , .45 

PAET I. 
The Bidding. 

CHAP. 

I. General Principles 47 

II. Hearts and Spades 52 

III. Clubs and Diamonds 60 

IV. The Effect of Tradition 66 

V. The Supporting Hand 70 

VI. The Obligation to Support . . . . .76 

VII. The Shut-Out Bid 83 

VIII. The Value of the Side Cards .... 86 

IX. Doubling 90 

ix 



X 



TABLE OF CONTEXTS 



CHAP. PAGE 

X. General Policy ; When to Close the Bidding . 94 
XI. Some Further Points about the Bidding ... 99 
XII. The Bogus Call 105 

PAET II. 
The Play of the Hand. 

I. The Original Lead 110 

XL The Declarer's Play 122 

(i) At No-Trumps 129 

(ii) When there is a Trump .... 136 

III. How to Play when Second-in-Hand . . . 141 

IV. Counting the Cards 14S 

V. Forcing a Discard .152 

VI. Some Card Chances 155 

PAET III. 
Illustrative Hands . . .162 

Appendix A. 265 

Appendix B. ........ c 267 



THE LAWS OF ROYAL AUCTION 
BEIDGE. 



Framed hy the Card Committee of the Portland Club, loith tlie 
co-operation of a representative of each of the following Clubs : 
The Baldwin, The Bath, The St. James', The Torf 
AND White's. 

Finally approved and adopted by the Committee of the Portland Club 
(May, 1914). 

(Printed by kind permission of Messrs. Thomas De la Rue & Co., 
London, E.G.). 

WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES BY " BASCULE ". 

The Eubber. 

1. The rubber is the best of three ganies. If 
the first two games be won by the same players, 
the third game is not played. 

Scoring. 

2. A game consists of thirty points, obtained by 

tricks alone, which are scored below the line. 

r 



2 



ROYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 



This is exclusive of any points counted for 
Honours, Chicane, Slam, Bonus or Under-tricks 
all of which are scored above the line. 

3. Every hand is played out, and any points 
in excess of the thirty points necessary for the 
game are counted. 

4. When the declarer {vide Law 50) makes 
good his declaration by winning at least as many 
tricks as he declared to win, each trick above 6 
counts : — 

6 points when Clubs are trumps. 

7 „ Diamonds ,, 

8 ,, „ Hearts „ 

9 „ Spades (Eoyal) are trumps. 
10 „ there are No Trumps. 

These values become respectively 12, 14, 16, 
18, and 20 w^hen the declaration has been doubled ; 
and 24, 28, 32, 36, and 40 when the declaration 
has been re-doubled {vide Law 56). 

5. Honours consist of ace, king, queen, knave, 
and ten of the trump suit. When there are no 
trumps they consist of the four aces. 



THE LAWS OF ROYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 3 

6. Honours in trump suits are thus reckoned : — 
If a player and his partner conjointly hold — 

I. The five honours of the trump suit, they 

score for honours five times the value of 
the trump suit trick. 

II. Any four honours of the trump suit, they 

score for honours four times the value of 
the tramp suit trick. 
III. Any three honours of the trump suit, they 
score for honours twice the value of the 
trump suit trick. 
If a player in his own hand holds — 

I. The five honours of the trump suit, he and 
his partner score for honours ten times 
the value of the trump suit trick. 
II. Any four honours of the trump suit, he and 
his partner score for honours eight times 
the value of the trump suit trick ; and 
if his partner holds the fifth honour, nine 
times the value of the trump suit trick. 
The value of the trump suit referred to in 
this law is its original value— a.g'., six points 



4 KOTAL AUCTION BEIDGE 

in clubs and seven points in diamonds ; the 
value of honours is in no way affected by any 
doubling or re-doubling. 

7. HoNOUES, when there are no trumps, are 
thus reckoned : — 

If a player and his partner conjointly hold — 

I. The four aces, they score for honours 

forty points, 
n. Any three aces, they score for honours 
thirty points. 
If a player in his own hand holds — 

The four aces, he and his partner score for 
honours one hundred points. 
These values are in no way affected by doubling 
or re-doubling. 

8. Chicane is thus reckoned : — 

If a player holds no trump, he and his partner 
score for Chicane twice the value of the 
trump suit trick. The value of Chicane 
is in no way affected by any doubling or 
re-doubling. 

9. Slam is thus reckoned :~ 



THE LAWS OF EOYAL AUCTION BEIDGE 5 



If a player and his partner make, independently of 
any tricks taken for the revoke penalty — 

I. All thirteen tricks, they score for Grand 

Slam one hundred points. 
II. Twelve tricks, they score for Little Slam 
fifty points. 

10. Honom^s, Chicane, Slam, Bonus, and points 
for Under-tricks are reckoned in the score at the 
end of the rubber. 

11. At the end of the rubber, the total scores 
for Tricks, Honours, Chicane, Slam, Bonus, and 
Under-tricks obtained by each player and his 
partner are added up, 250 points are added to the 
score of the winners of the rubber, and the differ- 
ence between the two scores is the number of 
points won, or lost, by the winners of the 
rubber. 

12. If an erroneous score affecting Tricks, Bonus, 
or Under-tricks be proved, such mistake may be 
corrected prior to the conclusion of the game in 
which it occurred, and such game is not concluded 
until the last card of the following deal has been 



6 



EOTAL AUCTION BBIDQB 



dealt, or, in the case of the last game of the rubber, 
until the score has been made up and agreed. 

13. If an erroneous score affecting Honours, 
Chicane, and Slam be proved, such mistake may 
be corrected at any time before the score of the 
rubber has been made up and agreed. 

14. When a rubber is started with the agreement 
that the play shall terminate {i.e.y no new deal 
shall commence) at a specified time, and the rubber 
is then unfinished, the score is made up as it 
stands, 125 points being added to the score of the 
winners of a game. A deal, if started, must be 
finished. 

Note. If each side has won a game it is, of course, super- 
fluous to make any addition to the score of either. {Vide 
Law 107 as to bets on the rubber.) 

Cutting. 

15. The ace is the lowest card. 

16. In all cases, every player must cut from the 
same pack. 

17. Should a player expose more than one card, 
he must cut again. 



the laws of boyal auction bridge 7 

Formation of Table. 

18. If there are more than four candidates, the 
players are selected by cutting, the first six in the 
room having the right of belonging to the table, 
which is complete with six players. The candi- 
dates who cut the next lowest cards have a prior 
right to any after-comer to enter the table. 

19. The four who cut the lowest cards play the 
first rubber ; they cut again for partners, and the 
two lowest play against the two highest. The 
player cutting the lowest card deals first, and has 
choice of cards and seats, and, having once made 
his selection, must abide by it. 

Note. These rules have been re-worded more than once, 
and their meaning is now very much clearer than it used to 
be. Their effect may be best explained by the two following 
cases : (1) A, B, and C are waiting in the card-room, when 
three other players, D, E, and F, come in together. All six 
players must cut to decide which of them are to play in the 
first rubber, and the four who cut the lowest cards then cut 
again for partners. At the end of the rubber the four who 
have played cut again to see who are out ; and the two who 
cut the higher cards make room for the two who have been 
looking on. An after-comer has no right at all to enter the 



8 



ROYAL AUCTTOrs BRIDGE 



table until one of the six players definitely retires from it. 
(2) A, B, and C are waiting, when four other players, D, 
F, and G, come in together. A, B, and C are entitled to be- 
long to the first table made up. but not necessarily to play 
in the first rubber. D, E, F, and G must cut among them- 
selves, and the three who cut the lowest cards belong to, and 
complete, the table. 

In some clubs it is customary to allow the first-comers 
always to play in the first rubber, but this is not in strict ac- 
cordance with the rules. 

20. Two players cutting cards of equal value, 
unless such cards are the two highest, cut again ; 
should they be the two lowest, a fresh cut is neces- 
sary to decide which of those two deals. 

21. Three players cutting cards of equal value 
cut again ; should the fourth (or remaining) card 
be the highest, the two lowest of the new cut are 
partners, the lower of those two the dealer ; should 
the fourth card be the lowest, the two highest are 
partners, the original lowest the dealer. 



the laws of eoyal auction bridge 9 
Cutting Out, 

22. At the end of a rubber, should admission 
be claimed by one, or two candidcites, the player 
who has, or the players who have, played a greater 
number of consecutive rubbers than the others is, 
or are, out ; but when all have played the same 
number, they must cut to decide upon the out- 
goers ; the highest are out. 

Note. Under no circumstances can more than two players 
claim to be admitted at the same time. For instance, A, 
C, and D have just finished a rubber, and E, F, and G are 
looking on. A and B have played a greater number of con- 
secutive rubbers than C and D, so it is their turn to go out, 
and C announces his intention of retiring from the table. 
This does not entitle all three onlookers to come in. Only 
two of them may do so, and A and B cut to see which of 
them must go out with C. 

Entry and Ke-entry. 

23. A candidate, v/hether he has played or not, 
can join a table which is not complete by declaring 
in at any time prior to any of the players having 
cut a card, either for the purpose of commencing 
a fresh rubber or of cutting out. 



ROYAL AUCTION BBIDGB 



24. In the formation of fresh tables, the candi- 
dates who have neither belonged to nor playea ^at 
any other table have the prior right of entry ; the 
others decide their right of admission by cutting. 

25. Any one quitting a table prior to the con- 
clusion of a rubber may, with consent of the other 
three players, appoint a substitute in his absence 
during that rubber. 

Note. When a player finishes a rubber as substitute for 
some one else, this does not affect his right of coming into 
the table like a fresh player at the end of the rubber. 

26. A player joining one table, whilst belonging 
to another, loses his right of re-entry into the latter, 
and tables his chance of cutting in, as if he were a 
fresh candidate. 

27. If any one break up a table, the remaining 
players have the prior right to him of entry into 
any other ; and should there not be sufficient 
vacancies at such other table to admit all those 
candidates, they settle their precedence by 
cutting. 



THE LAWS OF ROYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 11 



Shuffling. 

28. The pack must neither be shuffled below 
the table nor so that the face of any card can 
be seen. 

29. The pack must not be shuffled during the 
play of the hand. 

30. A pack, having been played with, must 
neither be shuffled by dealing it into packets, 
nor across the table. 

31. Each player has a right to shuffle once 
only (except as provided by Law 34) prior to a 
deal, after a false cut, or when a new deal has 
occurred. 

32. The dealer's partner must collect the cards 
for the ensuing deal, and has the first right to 
shuffle that pack. 

33. Each player, after shuffling, must place the 
cards, properly collected and face downwards, to 
the left of the player about to deal. 

84. The dealer has always the right to shuffle 
last ; but should a card or cards be seen during 



12 



KOTAL AUCTION BEIDGB 



his shuffling, or whilst giving the pack to be cut, 
he may be compelled to re-shuffle. 

The Deal. 

85. Each player deals in his turn ; the order 
of dealing goes to the left. 

36. The player on the dealer's right cuts the 
pack, and, in dividing it, must not leave fewer 
than four cards in either packet ; if in cutting, 
or in replacing one of the two packets on the 
other, a card be exposed, or if there be any 
confusion of the cards or a doubt as to the exact 
place in which the pack was divided, there must 
be a fresh cut. 

37. When a player, whose duty it is to cut, has 
once separated the pack, he cannot alter his cut ; 
moreover, he can neither re-shuffle nor re-cut the 
cards. 

38. After the pack has been cut, should the 
dealer shuffle the cards, the pack must be cut 
again. 

39. The fifty-two cards shall be dealt face 



THE LAWS OF BOYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 13 

downwards. The deal is not completed until the 
last card has been dealt face downwards. There 
is no misdeal. 

A New Deal. 

40. There must be a new deal — ■ 

I. If, during a deal, or during the play of a 
hand, the pack be proved to be incorrect 
or imperfect. 
II. If, during a deal, any card be faced in the 
pack, or in any way exposed on, above, 
or below the table. 

III. Unless the cards are dealt into four packets, 

one at a time and in regular rotation, 
beginning at the player to the dealer's 
left. 

IV. Should the last card not come in its regular 

order to the dealer. 
V. Should a player have more than thirteen 
cards, and any one or more of the others 
less than thirteen ca^rds. 
VL Should the dealer deal two cards at once, 



14 



ROYAL AUCTION BEIDGE 



or two cards to the same hand, and then 
deal a third ; but if, prior to dealing that 
card, the dealer can, by altering the posi- 
tion of one card only, rectify such error, 
he may do so. 
VII. Should the dealer omit to have the pack 
cut to him, and the adversaries discover 
the error prior to the last card being 
dealt, and before looking at their cards. 

Note. The latter part of Section II. of this rule is new (1914). 
Formerly, a card exposed by either side during the deal gave 
the other the right to claim a new deal, if they pleased ; 
though if a card were faced in the pack there had always to 
be one. Now exposed cards and faced cards are treated on 
the same footing, and it is to be noted that the definition of 
an exposed card under this rule is somewhat wider than that 
given in Laws 73 and 74, for the exposure may be made 
below the table. 

41. A player may not look at any of his cards 
until the deal has been completed ; should he do 
so, and a card be afterwards exposed, the adversary 
on his left shall have the option of allowing the 
deal to stand or not. 

42. If the dealer, before he has dealt fifty-one 



a^BE LAWS OF EOYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 15 

cards, look at any card, his adversaries have a 
right to see it, o.nd may exact a new deal. 

43. Should three players have their right number 
of cards, and the fourth have less than thirteen, 
and not discover such deficiency until he has 
played any of his cards, the deal stands good ; 
should he have played, he is answerable for any 
revoke he may have made, as if the missing card, 
or cards, had been in his hand ; he may search 
the other pack for it, or them. 

44. If a pack, during or after a rubber, be proved 
incorrect or imperfect, such proof does not alter 
any past score, game, or rubber; that hand in 
which the imperfection was detected is null and 
void, and the dealer must deal again. 

45. Any one dealing out of turn, or with the 
adversaries' cards, may be stopped before the last 
card is dealt, otherwise the deal stands good, and 
the game must proceed as if no mistake has been 
made. 

Note. If any one deals with the adversaries' cards, and 
the deal is completed so as to stand good" under this 



16 



BOTAL AUCTION BEIDGE 



rule, he and his partner must continue to deal with those 
cards for the remainder of the rubber. 

46. A player can rxeither shuffle, cut, nor deal 
for his partner without the permission of his op- 
ponents. 

Declaring Trumps. 

47. The dealer, having examined his hand, may 
either pass or may declare to win at least the odd 
trick, but he may declare to win more. Should he 
make a declaration, he must state whether the 
hand shall be played with or without trumps ; in 
the former case, he must name which suit shall be 
trumps. The lowest declaration he can make is 
''One Club" — i.e., he declares to win at least one 
odd trick, clubs being trumps. 

48. After the dealer, each player in turn, com- 
mencing with the player on the dealer's left, has 
the right to pass or to make a declaration higher 
than has yet been made, or to double the last 
declaration, or to re-double a declaration which 
has been doubled, subject to the provisions of 



THE LAWS OP EOYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 17 

Law 56. A declaration of a greater number of 
tricks in a suit of lower value, which equals the 
last declaration in value of points, shall be con- 
sidered a higher declaration — e.g., a declaration 
of ''Three Clubs" is a higher declaration than 
''Two Spades" (Eoyal), and "Four Clubs" is 
higher than " Three Hearts ". If all the plaj^ers 
pass, the hand is abandoned, and the deal passes 
to the next player. 

Note. When a player passes the previous bid he should 
simply say **No," or ''Content"; never "Pass," or "I 
Pass/' as these expressions are liable to be mistaken for 
'' Hearts 

49. A player, in his turn, may overbid previous 
declarations any number of times, and may also 
overbid his partner, but he cannot overbid his own 
declaration which has been passed by the other 
three players. When the final declaration has 
been made — i,e., when the last declaration has 
been passed by the other three players — the player 
who made such declaration (or in the case where 
both partners have made declarations in the same 
suit, or of "No Trumps," the player who made 



18 



ROYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 



the first of such declarations) shall play the com- 
bined hands of himself and of his partner, the 
latter becoming Dummy. 

Note. If a player bids *'one no^rump " or **one heart," 
say, and an opponent subsequently overbids him with **two 
no-trumps" or ^' two hearts," as the case may be, the latter, 
of course, becomes the declarer " {vide next rule), and 
plays the double hand, if his bid is accepted. 

50. When the player of the two hands (herein- 
after termed " the declarer ") wins at least as many 
tricks as he declared to do, he scores the full value 
of the tricks won {see Laws 2 and 4). When he 
fails, his adversaries score fifty points for each 
under- trick — i.e,, each trick short of the number 
declared ; or, if the declaration has been doubled, 
or redoubled, one hundred or two hundred re- 
spectively for each under-trick ; neither the declarer 
nor his adversaries score anything towards the 
game. 

51. If a player make an illegal declaration, such 
as declaring an impossible number of tricks, the 
adversary on his left may demand a new deal, may 
treat such declaration as not made, or may permit 
it to stand. The player in error cannot be penalized 
for more than Grand Slam. 



THE LAWS OF BOYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 19 

Note. Other illegal declarations are 

(1) A double of a call already doubled. 

(2) A double of partner's call. 

(3) A re-double of partner's double. 

(4) A call after partner has made an under-call, and 

(5) A re-double of a call which has already been re- 

doubled. 

52. If a player make a declaration (other than 
passing) out of turn, the adversary on his left may 
demand a new deal, or may allow the declaration 
so made to stand, or he may refer it to his partner, 
whose decision must be final. Should the declara- 
tion be allowed to stand, the bidding shall continue 
as if the declaration had been in order. 

Note. Under the old rule, if a player made any bid, other 
than passing, out of turn, the player on his left was entitled 
bo accept the irregular bid or to call for a fresh deal, as he 
pleased. This was hardly an adequate penalty, because his 
partner might have a roaring hand, and, if so, it would not 
help him very much to have a fresh deal ; in fact, the penalty 
might very well fall upon the wrong party, while the true 
culprit escaped. Under the new rule, the player on the 
irregular caller's left has a further and very valuable option, 
for instead of deciding whether there shall be a new deal 
himself, he may refer the matter to his partner, who must 
then make the final decision. 

This option adds very much to the weight of the penalty, 
which, in its new form, some people may consider to be 
almost too severe^ because when the right of claiming a fresh 
deal is referred by the one partner to the other, the latter 



20 



BOYAL AUCTION BEIDGE 



is able to make a pretty shrewd guess as to the nature of 
the former's hand. Indeed, the mere fact of the right bsiug 
referred amounts ahnost to a consultation between them, 
which is hardly in accord with the spirit of the game. 

Let me show by an illustration how the thing works out 
in practice. Z, the dealer, is considering what his first bid 
shall be, when A, his left-hand neighbour, thinking that it is 
his turn to bid, declares one no-trump ". Now the player 
on A's left, Y, has three courses open to him : He can accept 
A's bid by passing, doubling, or over-calling ; he can claim a 
fresh deal ; or he can refer the matter to his partner. If he 
has a good hand he will certainly accept A's bid ; if he has a 
bad one he will ask for a fresh deal ; and if he has merely a 
moderate hand he will refer the matter to his partner, and if 
he adopts the last of these alternatives Z's course is, or should 
be, perfectly clear to him. If he has a really good hand he 
should let the deal stand, but if only a moderate or a bad one 
he should call for a fresh deal, as he knows that he and his 
partner have not much to hope for from this one. 

Either adversary may call attention to the fact of the de- 
claration being out of turn. 

53. If a player, in bidding, fail to declare a 
sufficient number of tricks to overbid the previous 
declaration, he shall be considered to have de- 
clared the requisite number of tricks in the bid 
which he has made, provided that the number of 
tricks shall not exceed seven ; and his partner shall 
be debarred from making any further declaration, 
imless either of his adversaries make a higher 



THE LAWS OF EOYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 21 

declaration or double. If, however, such insuffi- 
cient declaration be accepted by the next player 
passing it, or doubling it, or by making a higher 
declaration, no rectification can be made. 

Note, Either adversary may call attention to the insuffici- 
ency of the declaration^ when it is at once automatically raised, 
and cannot be accepted by the next player. 

54. After the final declaration has been made, 
a player is not entitled to give his partner any 
information as to a previous declaration, whether 
made by himself or by either adversary; but a 
player is entitled to inquire, at any time during 
the play of the hand, what was the final declara- 
tion. 

Note. This rule impliedly authorises a player to inform 
his partner as to the previous bids before the final declaration 
has been made ; and it has always been the practice to give 
such information to friend and foe alike, when asked for, 
but not, of course, after the bidding is closed. 

Doubling and Ee-Doubling. 

55. The effect of doubling and re-doubling is 
that the value of each trick over six is doubled or 
quadrupled, as provided in Law 4 ; but it does not 



22 



ROTAL AUCTION BRIDGE 



alter the value of a declaration — e.g,, a declaration 
of ^'Two Clubs*' is higher than ''One Heart," 
although the heart declaration has been doubled. 

56. Any declaration can be doubled and re- 
doubled once, but not more ; a player cannot double 
his partner's declaration, or re-double his partner's 
double, but he may re-double a declaration of his 
partner's which has been doubled by his advers- 
aries. 

57. The act of doubling, or re-doubling, re-opens 
the bidding. When a declaration has been doubled, 
or re-doubled, any player, including the player 
whose declaration has been doubled, or whose 
double has been re-doubled, can in his proper turn 
make a further declaration of higher value. 

58. When a player whose declaration has been 
doubled makes good his declaration by winning at 
least the declared number of tricks, he scores a 
bonus which consists of 50 points for winning 
the number of tricks declared, and 50 points for 
each additional trick he may win. If he or his 
partner have re-doubled, the bonus for winning 



THE LAWS OF ROYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 23 



the number of tricks declared and for each addi- 
tional trick is doubled. 

59. If a player double out of turn, the adver- 
sary on his left may demand a new deal. 

Note. This rule applies, also, to a re-double out of turn. 

60. When the final declaration has been made 

{see Law 49), the play shall begin, and the player 

on the left of the declarer shall lead. 

Note. A player is not entitled to ask, during the play of 
the hand, which of the opponents doubled, 

61. A declaration once made cannot be altered, 
except as provided by Law 53, but if a de- 
claration is obviously a misnomer, and is amended 
practically in the same breath, it stands as cor- 
rected. 

Note. The words from **but if a declaration" onwards 
are new, but do not effect any change in the law^ as they 
merely embody a principle which has always been acted 
upon in the leading Bridge clubs, viz.^ that a player ought 
not to be held to a mere slip of the tongue. That is what is 
meant by the expression '* misnomer". Should a player 
call *^ one heart " under the impression that he has five to 
the ace, for instance, and immediately afterwards discover 
that the card which he thought to be the ace of hearts is the 
ace of diamonds, he cannot properly amend his declaration 
under this rule. 



24 



ROYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 



Dummy. 

62. As soon as a card is led by the eldest hand, 
i,e., the player on the left of the declarer, the 
declarer's partner shall place his cards face up- 
wards on the table, and the duty of playing the 
cards from that hand, which is called Dummy, 
and of claiming and enforcing any penalties arising 
during the hand, shall devolve upon the declarer, 
unassisted by his partner. 

Note. If the player on the declarer's right lead to the first 
trick instead of his partner, Dummy must pause, and give the 
declarer an opportunity of caUing a lead from the eldest hand. 
Should Dummy expose his cards at once it has been decided 
by the Committee of the Portland Club that this penalty 
cannot be exacted ; in fact, the rule has been altered ex- 
pressly to prevent the declarer calling a lead after he has 
had the somewhat unfair advantage of seeing his partner's 
hand. 

63. Before placing his cards upon the table, the 
declarer's partner has all the rights of a player, 
but after so doing shall take no part whatever in 
the play, except that he has the right : — 

(a) To ask the declarer whether he has any 
of a suit which he may have renounced ; 



THE LAWS OF KOYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 25 



(6) To call the declarer's attention to the 
fact that too many or too few cards have 
been played to a trick ; 

(c) To correct the claim of either adversary 

to a penalty to which the latter is not 
entitled ; 

(d) To call attention to the fact that a trick 
has been wrongly gathered by either side ; 

(e) To participate in the discussion of any 

disputed question of fact, or of law ; 
if) To correct an erroneous score. 
If he call attention to any other incident in the 
play of the hand, in respect of which any penalty 
might be exacted, the fact that he has done so 
shall deprive the declarer of the right of exacting 
such penalty against his adversaries. 

Note. If the declarer play twice from his own hand to a 
brick, and omit playing from Dummy^ it has been decided by 
the Committee of the Portland Club that Dumm.y may call 
attention to the error. 

64. If the declarer's partner, by touching a card, 
or otherwise, suggest the play of a card from 



26 



ROYAL AtrCTION BRIDGE 



Dummy, either of the adversaries may, but with- 
out consulting with his partner, call upon the 
declarer to play or not to play the card suggested. 

65. If the declarer's partner call the attention 

of the declarer to the fact that he is about to lead 

from the wrong hand, the adversary on the left of 

the declarer may require that the lead be made 

from that hand. 

Note. This is somewhat similar to a rule introduced by the 
New York Whist Club in November, 1913. 

66. When the declarer draws a card, either from 
his own hand or from Dummy, such card is not 
considered as played until actually quitted. 

67. A card once played, or named by the declarer 

as to be played from his own hand or from Dummy, 

cannot be takon back, except to save a revoke. 

Note, One sometimes sees the declarer play a card from 
his own hand or Dummy, and then pick it up again, and 
substitute another. Except in the case of a lead from the 
wrong hand, when he may withdraw his card before the 
second hand has played, but not after {vide Rule 81), he has 
no more right to do this than his adversaries have. 

68. The declarer's partner may not look over 



THE LAWS OF EOTAL AUCTION BRIDGE 27 

his adversaries' hands, nor leave his seat for the 
purpose of watching his partner's play. 

69. Dummy is not liable to any penalty for a 
revoke, as his adversaries see his cards. Should 
he revoke, and the error not be discovered until 
the trick is turned and quitted, the trick stands 
good. 

70. The declarer is not liable, to any penalty for 
an error whence he can gain no advantage. Thus, 
he may expose some, or all of his cards, without 
incurring any penalty. 

Exposed Caeds. 

71. If all the cards have been dealt, and before 
the final declaration has been made, any plaj^er 
expose a card from his hand, the adversary on 
his left may demand a new deal. If the deal be 
allowed to stand, the exposed card may be taken 
up and cannot be called. 

72. If, after the final declaration has been made, 
and before a card is led, the partner of the player 
who has to lead to the first trick exposes a card 



28 



ROYAL AUCTION BEIDQE 



from his hand, the declarer may, instead of call- 
ing the card, require the leader not to lead the 
suit of the exposed card. 

Cakds Liable to be Called. 

73. All cards exposed by the declarer's adver- 
saries are liable to be called, and must be left 
face upwards on the table ; but a card is not an 
exposed card when dropped on the floor, or else- 
where below the table. 

74. The following are exposed cards : — 
I. Two or more cards played at once. 

II. Any card dropped with its face upwards, 

or in any way exposed on or above the 

table, even though snatched up so quickly 

that no one can name it. 

Note, One of the declarer's adversaries accidentally places 
his whole hand upon the table face upwards, but in a packet, 
with only the top card showing. It was held by the late 
James Clay, when a similar case arose at whist, that all the 
thirteen cards were technically exposed, and could be called ; 
but the Committee of the Portland Club have decided that 
only the card of which the face is visible can be called. 



THE LAWS OF ROYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 29 

75. If either of the declarer's adversaries play 
to an imperfect trick the best card on the table, 
or lead one which is a winning card as against 
the declarer and his partner, and then lead again, 
without waiting for his partner to play, or play 
several such winning cards, one after the other, 
without waiting for his partner to play, the latter 
may be called on to win, if he can, the first or any 
other of those tricks, and the other cards thus 
improperly played are exposed cards. 

76. Should the declarer indicate that all or any 
of the remaining tricks are his, he may be required 
to place his cards face upwards on the table ; but 
they cannot be called. The declarer is not then 
allowed to call any cards which his adversaries 
may have exposed, nor to take any finesse unless 
he announces it when making his claim. 

Note. The latter part of this rule is new, and imposes a 
prohibition upon the declarer which was formerly left to his 
good feeling and sense of fairness. The question what is, 
and what is not, a "finesse " might, in certain circumstances, 
lead to a peculiarly acrimonious discussion, I am afraid. 
Suppose, for instance, that Dummy holds the first- and- thkd- 



30 



ROYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 



best cards of a suit in which the adversary upon his left has 
failed, so th;it he is marked with a ten ace over the eldest 
hand. Does this rule disentitle the declarer from playing 
the lower card of the tenace on the next round of the suit, 
unless he has announced this as a ^' finesse " when making 
his claim ? Probably not ; but there is something to be 
said upon the other side of the question, because he may 
have forgotten that his right-hand adversary has shown void. 

The corresponding American rule forbids the declarer to ' 
take a finesse *'not previously proven a winner " unless he 
has announced it when making his claim. 

When the rule has been brought into operation it will 
sometimes pay one of the declarer's adversaries to deliber- 
ately expose his cards, which cannot be called, as a means of 
showing his partner what suit to lead ; though, of course, if 
the latter remembers exactly what cards are out he should 
be in no difficulty. I do not think that such a deliberate 
exposure of the hand would, in the circumstances, be unfair. 

Observe the expression all or any '\ 

77. If either of the declarer's adversaries throws 
his cards on the table face upwards, such cards 
are exposed, and liable to be called by the 
declarer. 

78. If all the players throw their cards on 
the table face upwards, the hands are abandoned, 
and the score must be left as claimed and 
admitted. The hands may be examined for the 



THE LAWS OF EOYAL AUCTION BKIDGE 31 

purpose of establishing a revoke, but for no other 
purpose. 

79. A card detached from the rest of the hand 
of either of the declarer's adversaries, so as to be 
named, is liable to be called ; but should the 
declarer name a wrong card, he is liable to have a 
suit called when first he or his partner have the 
lead. 

80. If a player, who has rendered himself liable 

to have the highest or lowest of a suit called, or 

to win or not to win a trick, fail to play as desired, 

though able to do so, or if when called on to lead 

one suit, lead another, having in his hand one or 

more cards of that suit demanded, he incurs the 

penalty of a revoke. 

Note. This rule is very clumsily and ungrammatically 
worded, but its meaning is tolerably clear. 

81. If either of the declarer's adversaries lead 

out of tm^n, the declarer may call a suit from him 

or his partner when it is next the turn of either 

of them to lead, or may call the card erroneously led. 

Note, If, when it is the turn of one of them to lead, the 
declarer's adversaries lead simultaneously, a suit cannot be 
called, but the wrongful leader's card is exposed. 



32 



ROYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 



82. If the declarer lead out of turn, either from 
his own hand or from Dummy, he incurs no 
penalty ; but he may not rectify the error after 
the second hand has played, unless called upon 
by either adversary to do so. 

83. If any player lead out of turn, and the 
other three have followed him, the trick is com- 
plete, and the error cannot be rectified ; but if 
only the second, or the second and third, have 
played to the false lead, their cards, on discovery 
of the mistake, can be taken back ; and there is 
no penalty against any one, excepting the original 
offender, and then only when he is one of the 
declarer's adversaries. 

84. In no case can a player be compelled to 
play a card which would oblige him to revoke. 

85. The call of a card may be repeated until 
such card has been played. 

86. If a player called on to lead a suit have none 
of it, the penalty is paid. 



THE LAWS OF ROYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 



33 



Cards Played in Error, or not Played to a 
Trick. 

87. Should the fourth hand play before the 

second, the latter (not being Dummy or his 

partner) may be called on to win, or not to win, 

the trick, or to discard from a suit specified by 

the declarer (subject to Law 84). 

Note. Under the old rule there was no penalty if the third 
hand had played, and the second hand could only be called 
upon to win or not to win the trick. The power to call upon 
him to discard from a specified suit is no doubt of consider- 
able value, but it does not go so far as the penalty provided 
by the corresponding American rule, under which he can be 
called upon to play his highest or lowest card of the suit led, 
or, if void of it, to play bis highest card of any designated 
suit. 

88. If any one (not being Dummy) omit playing 
to a former trick, and such error be not discovered 
until he has played to the next, the adversaries 
may claim a new deal ; should they decide that 
the deal stands good, or should Dummy have 
omitted to play to a former trick, and such error 
be not discovered till he shall have played to the 
next, the surplus card at the end of the hand is 



34 



ROYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 



considered to have been played to the imperfect 
trick, but does not constitute a revoke therein. 

89. If any one play tv^o cards to the same 
trick, or mix a card v^ith a trick to which it does 
not properly belong, and the mistake be not dis- 
covered until the hand is played out, he (not being 
Dummy) is answerable for all consequent revokes 
he may have made. If, during the play of the 
hand, the error be detected, the tricks may be 
counted face downwards, in order to ascertain 
whether there be among them a card too many : 
should this be the case they may be searched, and 
the card restored ; the player (not being Dummy) 
is, however, liable for all revokes which he may 
have meanwhile made. 

The Eeyoke 

90. Is when a player (other than Dummy), 
holding one or more cards of the suit led, plays a 
card of a different suit. 

91. The penalty for each revoke shall be : — 

(a) When the declarer revokes, his adversaries 



THE LAWS OF KOYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 35 



shall score 150 points in addition to any 
penalty which he may have incurred foi 
not making good his declaration. 
(b) When either of the adversaries revoke, the 
declarer may score 150 points, or may 
take three tricks from his opponents and 
add them to his own. Such tricks taken 
as a penalty may assist the declarer to 
make good his declaration, but they shall 
not entitle him to score any bonus in 
the case of the declaration having been 
doubled or re-doubled. 
The penalty of 150 points is not affected by 

doubling or re-doubling. 

In no circumstances can partners score anything 

except for honours or Chicane on a hand in which 

one of them has revoked. 

Note. Upon a declaration of **one no-trump," the de- 
clarer makes six tricks only, losing the odd, and his ad- 
versaries revoke twice. He may take three of their tricks 
from them for one revoke, thereby fulfilling his contract and 
winning the game, and add 150 points to his score for tho 
other. 

3* 



36 



KOTAL AUCTION BRIDGE 



It should be noted that the expression ^* partners " in the 
last paragraph of this rule refers to the declarer and his 
partner, as well as to their opponents, although, as a matter 
of fact, there is no penalty if Dummy revokes (vide Rule 68), 
and the hand must be scored in the usual way. 

92. A revoke is established, if the trick in which 
it occurs has been turned and quitted — i.e., the 
hand removed from that trick after it has been 
turned face downwards on the table — or if either 
the revoking player or his partner, whether in his 
right turn or otherwise, lead or play to the follow- 
ing trick. 

Note. If a player renounces in a suit of which he holds 
one or more cards, and then, before the trick is turned and 
quitted^ throws the rest of his hand upon the table, this is 
an act of play equivalent to playing to the following trick, 
and establishes the revoke. 

93. A player may ask his partner whether he 
has not a card of the suit which he has renounced ; 
should the question be asked before the trick is 
turned and quitted, subsequent turning and quit- 
ting does not establish the revoke, and the error 
may be corrected, unless the question be answered 
in the negative, or unless the revoking player or 



THE LAWS OF ROYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 37 

his partner have led or played to the following 
trick. 

NoU, The effect of this and the preceding rule is to estab- 
lish the three following propositions as to the time at which 
a revoke is complete and irremediable : — 

(1) Leading or playing to the next trick always 
establishes a revoke, whether the trick in which it 
occurred has been turned and quitted or not. 

(2) Tiu'ning and quitting the trick establishes a re- 
voke unless the question has been previously asked and 
has not been answered in the negative. The question, 
in fact^ suspends the ordinary application of the rule, 
and prolongs the revoking player's locus penitentic^, 
until the negative answer is given ; always provided 
that neither he nor his partner has led or played to the 
following trick. 

(3) Answering the question in the negative estab- 
lishes a revoke only when the trick in which it occurred 
has first been turned and quitted. 

94. At the end of the hand, the claimants of a 
revoke may search all the tricks. 

95. If a player discover his mistake in time to 
save a revoke, any player or players who have 
played after him may withdraw their cards and 
substitute others, and their cards withdrawn are 



38 



ROYAL AUCTION BEIDGE 



not liable to be called. If the player in fault be 
one of the declarer's adversaries, the declarer may 
call the card thus played in error, or may require 
him to play his highest or lowest card to that trick 
in which he has renounced. 

96. If the player in fault be the declarer, the 
eldest hand may require him to play the highest 
or lowest card of the suit in which he has re- 
nounced, provided both of the declarer's adver- 
saries have played to the current trick ; but this 
penalty cannot be exacted from the declarer when 
he is fourth in hand, nor can it be enforced at all 
from Dummy. 

97. After a revoke has been claimed, if the ac- 
cused player or his partner mix the cards before 
they have been sufficiently examined by the adver- 
saries, the revoke is established. 

98. A revoke cannot be claimed after the cards 
have been cut for the following deal. 

Note. If the pack has been cut to the dealer without his 
consent — that is to say, without his having presented it to be 
cut, it is too late for the player who cut or his partner to 
claim a revoke in the previous hand, but not for their adver- 
saries. 



THE LAWS OF EOYAL AUCTIOX BRIDGE 39 

99. If a revoke occur, be claimed and proved, 
bets on the odd trick, or on the amount of the 
score, must be decided by the actual state of the 
score after the penalty is paid. 

100. Should both sides subject themselves to the 
penalty for a revoke, neither side can score any- 
thing except for honours or Chicane ; should either 
or both sides revoke more than once, the side 
makmg the fewest revokes scores 150 points for 
each extra revoke. 

Calling for New Cards. 

101. Any player (on paying for them) before, 
but not after, the pack be cut for the deal, may 
call for fresh cards. He must call for two new 
packs, of which the dealer takes his choice. 

General Rules. 

102. Any one during the play of a trick, or after 
the four cards are played, and before, but not 
after, they are touched for the purpose of gathering 
them together, may demand that the cards be 
placed before their respective players. 



40 



ROYAL AUCTION BRIDaE 



103. If either of the declarer's adversaries, prior 

to his partner playing, should call attention to 

the trick— either by saying that it is his, or by 

naming his card, or, without being required so to 

do, by drawing it towards him — the declarer may 

require that opponent's partner to play his highest 

or lowest of the suit then led, or to win or not to 

win the trick. 

Note. A player called upon to win a trick to which he is 
unable to follow suit must trump it, if he can. 

104. Should the partner of the player, solely 
entitled to exact a penalty, suggest or demand the 
enforcement of it, no penalty can be enforced, 
but he is entitled to call his partner's attention to 
the fact that an offence has been committed (sub- 
ject to Law 63). Should any player claim a 
penalty to which he is not entitled, he loses his 
right to exact any penalty. 

Note. The. words but he is entitled to call his partner's 
attention to the fact that an offence has been committed (sub- 
ject to Law 63) " are new. 

It was decided by the Committee of the Portland Club 
that the last clause of this rule did not apply to a case where 



THE LAWS OF EOYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 41 

the declarer's adversaries claimed to take three tricks from 
him for a revoke (a penalty to which they are not entitled), 
so as to extinguish their right to enforce the appropriate 
penalty. 

105. In all cases where a penalty has been in- 
curred, the offender is bound to give reasonable 
time for the decision of his adversaries. 

106. If a bystander make any remark which 

calls the attention of a player or players to an 

oversight affecting the score, he is liable to be 

called on, by the players only, to pay the stakes 

and all bets on that game or rubber. 

Note. 1 have never yet seen this rule enforced, but it is a 
most salutary one. A bystander ought never to call attention 
to any incident in the game^ or intervene in any way, unless 
he is called upon to decide a disputed question of fact or law 
by the general consent of the players {vide Law 108). 

107. Bets on the result of a rubber are won by 
the winners on points. If a rubber is concluded 
under Law 14, bets made on that rubber are 
annulled. 

108. A bystander, by agreement among the 
players, may decide any question. 



42 



BOYAL AUCTION , BEIDGE 



109. A card or cards torn or marked must be 
either replaced by agreement, or new cards called 
at the expense of the table. 

110. Once a trick is complete, turned, and 
quitted, it must not be looked at (except under 
Law 89) until the end of the hand. 



THEEE-HANDED EOYAL AUCTION 
BEIDGE. 

The Laws are the same as those of Eoyal Auc- 
tion Bridge, except as varied by the following : — 

I. The game is played by three players, all 
against all ; the table being complete with four 
players. 

II. The player who cuts the lowest card has the 
first deal ; the player cutting the next lowest card 
sits on the dealer's left, and the remaining player 
on the dealer's right. The cards are dealt as at 
Eoyal Auction Bridge, but the cards dealt to 



THE LAWS OF ROYAL AUCTION BRIDGE 43 

Dummy are not taken up until after the final de- 
claration has been made. If whilst dealing a card 
be exposed, there must be a new deal. 

IIL The dealer makes his declaration or passes, 
and the bidding continues as at Royal Auction 
Bridge. 

IV. If, after the deal has been completed, and 
before a card is led, any player expose a card from 
his hand, he shall forfeit 100 points to each of the 
other players ; and the declarer — if he be not the 
offender — may call upon the eldest hand not to 
lead from the suit of the exposed card. If he 
does not exercise this right, the card must be left 
on the table as an exposed card. If the card be 
exposed by the declarer, after the final declaration 
has been made, there is no penalty; 

V. If a player double out of turn, he forfeits 
100 points to each of his adversaries, and the 
player whose declaration has been so doubled shall 
have the right to say whether or not the double 
shall stand. The bidding is then resumed ; but if 
the double has been disallowed, the said declaration 



44 



ROYAL ArCTIOX BEIDGE 



cannot be doubled by the player on the right of 
the offender. 

VI. The rubber consists of four games ; but 
when two games have been won by the same 
player, the other, or others, are not played. 

VII. When the declarer makes good his declara- 
tion, he scores as at Eoyal Auction Bridge ; when 
he fails to do so, he loses to each of his adver- 
saries. 

Vin. The scoring is the same as at Eoyal Auc- 
tion Bridge, except with regard to honours, which 
are scored by each player severally — i.e., each 
player who has one honour in clubs scores six ; 
each player having tv>'o honours in clubs scores 
twelve ; a player holding three honours in clubs 
scores eighteen ; a player holding four honours 
scores forty-eight ; and a player holding five 
honours in clubs scores sixty ; and similarly for 
the other suits. In a ''No Trump" declaration, 
aces count ten each ; and if ail four be held by one 
player, 100. 



i 



THE LAWS OF ROYAL AUCTION BEIDGE 45 

IX. One hundred points are scored by each 
player for every game he ^yins, and the winner 
of the rubber adds a further 250 points to his 
score. 

X. At the conclusion of the rubber, the total 
scores obtained by each player are added up 
separately, and each player wins from, or loses to, 
each other player the difference between his score 
and that of the said other player, 

ETIQUETTE OF EOYAL AUCTION 
BEIDGE. 

The following rules belong to the established 
Etiquette of Eoyal Auction Bridge. They are not 
called laws, as it is difficult — in some cases impos- 
sible — to apply any penalty to their infraction, and 
the only remedy is to cease to play with players 
who habitually disregard them. 

It is unfair to purposely make a declaration 
which is insufficient to overbid the previous one. 

Any one, having the lead, and one or more win- 
ning cards to play, should not draw a second card 



46 



ROYAL AUCTIOX BRIDGE 



out of his hand until his partner has played to the 
first trick, such act being a distinct intimation that 
the former has played a winning card. 

A player who has looked at his cards, ought not 
to give any indication by word or gesture as to 
the nature of his hand, or call the attention of his 
partner to the score of the game. 

A player who desires the cards to be placed, 
should do it for his own information only, and not 
in order to invite the attention of his partner. 

No player should object to refer to a bystander, 
who professes himself uninterested in the game 
and able to decide, a disputed question of facts, as 
to who played any particular card, whether honours 
were claimed though not scored, or vice versd — 
etc., etc. 

It is unfair to revoke purposely ; having made a 
revoke, a player is not justified in making a second 
in order to conceal the first. 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE. 



PAET I. 
THE BIDDING. 

I. General Principles. 

The first general principle involved in the bidding at 
Auction Bridge is that the player must keep before his 
eyes two distinct objects, and realise v^ith exactness their 
relative importance. The first of these objects is to 
secure the declaration for himself or his partner, and 
either win the game or, at all events, prevent the other 
side winning it ; and the second is to push the op- 
ponents into a contract which they cannot fulfil, and so 
gain penalties from them. Sometimes the one is the 
proper mark to aim at, and sometimes the other. It all 
depends upon the contents of the player's hand, the 
state of the score, and the indications afforded by his 
partner's bids. I have heard people say: ''I always 
take the game when I can get it ; " but this is quite 
contrary to the true theory of Auction. It is a good 

47 



48 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



thing to win the game, certainly, and particularly if it 
happens to be the third, and consequently the deciding, 
game of the rubber. But, on the other hand, a double 
which will bring you in 400 points above the line is 
worth more than any game, and, conversely, no game 
is worth the loss of so many points to save it. 

However, there are occasions upon which both objects 
can be pursued at the same time — that is to say, a 
player may begin the bidding with the idea of gaining 
the declaration, and, as it proceeds, see that this 
objective is unattainable, and drop it. Indeed this is 
quite the normal course of events, it being rarely the 
case that one perceives an opportunity for pursuing 
luring-on tactics, and laying a trap for the enemy, as it 
were, from the very start, though opportunities of this 
sort do arise, and when they do, can be taken full 
advantage of. But in the ordinary way your first bid 
is, or should be, made with the idea of securing the 
trump declaration for yourself or partner, and all 
thoughts of doubling are postponed until the adversaries 
have committed themselves. 

Now, having got thus far in the theory of the game 
— -and I think that nobody will dispute anything which 
I have said hitherto— let us consider what are the 
principles upon which the first bid should be made, 



THE BIDDING 



49 



having regard to the object I have indicated. With 
a hand which is securely guarded in at least three suits, 
and is yet not so strong in any of them as to make a 
bid in that suit desirable, you should declare no-trumps. 
And here I must pause to remark that if you are really 
desirous of being left in with a no-trump declaration, 
and have a hand which justifies you in doing so, it is 
advisable to bid ''two no-trumps" rather than "one 
no-trump," as this will make it more difficult for the 
adversaries to overcall you. 

Suppose, for instance, that you are first bidder, and 
hold the following hand : — 

Hearts, K Q x 
Diamonds, K J x 
Clubs, K 10 X 
Spades, lo x x x 
(** X " denotes a small card.) 

This, though it does not contain an ace, is quite good 
enough for a bid of " one no-trump " at Auction Bridge. 
It totals up to 19 points according to the well-known 
Eobertson Eule, and this is about the minimum standard 
at which no-trumps is a paying proposition, I have 
found ; although many people consider that the call 
can be made upon practically nothing at all. It can, 

of course, but there is a certain amount of risk attached 

4 



50 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



to these ultra-light no-trumpers, and no corresponding 
advantage, I believe, so for my own part I do not feel 
enthusiastic about them. 

If, however, you open the bidding with "one no- 
trump," which is the utmost you can do on the above 
hand, it is very easy for the adversaries to overcall you, 
and this they will certainly do if it suits their book. 
It is true that you put them to the necessity of entering 
upon an eight-tricks contract right away, but nobody is 
scared by such a modest undertaking as this now^adays, 
and, consequently, they will probably carry on the 
bidding and show each other their suits, while if either 
of them has a mind to play the hand, as declarer, 
without trumps, he will very likely bid two no-trumps " 
over you. This will not distress 3'Ou at all, of course, 
because you could not possibly have declared " two no- 
trumps " upon so poor a hand, but with a somewhat 
stronger one you might have done so, and it is chiefly 
as a means of preventing this particular counterstroke 
that an original bid of '^two no-trumps" is sometimes 
desirable. 

However, this is a topic upon which I shall have 
something to say later on, so I will pass on from it to 
the consideration of other matters. 

Supposing that you are unable to declare no-trumps, 



THE BIDDIXG 



51 



the next question you will have to ask yourself is, Am 
I strong enough to make a bid in any suit?" If you 
have a suit worth showing you should show it, quite 
apart from any consideration as to the probability of 
your becoming the ultimate declarer, because it will 
help your partner both in the bidding and in the play 
of the hand, and it may he your last chance of doing so. 
This is a very important thing to remember, because 
one often thinks to oneself that one will postpone show- 
ing one's suit until the second round, and then, when 
the bidding comes back to one, it has reached a stage at 
which one dares not chip in. 

So all that you have to make up your mind about is 
whether your suit is worth naming, and, if it is, you 
proceed to name it. But you must realise, too, that in 
the words of that clever xlmerican writer, Miss Irwin, 
your bid must be a make " — that is to say, you must 
not name a suit unless you are prepared to be left in to 
play the hand with that suit for trumps. And so the 
first essential is that you should hold at least five cards 
in it, or four with three honours, shall we say. The 
only exception to this rule is to be found in the bid of 
" one club," which is still used as more or less of an 
invitation to no-trumps, though, as there is no onus 
upon your partner to take you out unless it suits his 

4^ 



52 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



hand to do so, you may quite possibly be left in to play 
the hand with clubs for trumps. 

And in considering whether your, suit is worth 
naming, you will also have to remember that if you do 
name it your partner will lead it to you, should the 
adversary upon your left overcall you and become the 
declarer. This, too, is an important factor in the case, 
because if your suit is below a certain strength, and 
particularly when it is unaccompanied by entry cards 
in other suits, it will probably serve your interests 
better if your partner is left to play his own game. 

Thus, it will be seen that there are both strategic 
and tactical reasons for not declaring a weak suit, for 
it is bad strategy to land yourself with a contract which 
you cannot fulfil, and bad tactics to mislead your partner 
into opening the hand at a disadvantage. If things 
turn out in one way you will be punished by the loss of 
so many 50's or lOO's above the line, probably, and if 
they turn out in the other you may throw away the 
game, in both instances through a bad initial call. So 
it behoves you to walk warily, and not to mislead your 
partner, if you can help it. 

II. Hearts and Spades. 

What is the precise strength which justifies the 
dealer, and first bidder, at Auction Bridge, in making a 



THE BIDDING 



53 



suit bid ? What cards must he hold in order that he 
may, without any impropriety^ open the bidding with 
" one heart " or one spade," say ? (I will consider the 
case of clubs and diamonds separately.) 

Now this is a question upon which, I am bound to 
admit, a good deal of confusion appears to have arisen, 
and the text-books I have read on the game have done 
very little to allay it. For they one and all treat the 
problem as though it depended entirely upon what the 
player holds in hearts or spades, as the case may be, 
without taking into consideration the rest of his hand. 
That this is entirely wrong I am absolutely convinced, 
and^ moreover, I am fortified in this opinion by the 
practice of nearly all the good players I know. 

The fact is, the question can only be answered in a 
satisfaccory way if you take into account not only the 
player's strength in his proposed trump suit, but his 
strength in other suits as well, and this is a point of such 
extreme importance that I feel it is impossible to lay 
too much emphasis upon it. Its full realisation is 
necessary before anyone can be said to have mastered 
the merest elements of Auction Bridge, and so I am 
very anxious that the reader should not allow it to 
escape him, or to be only half comprehended. Most 
writers upon the game tell us that we mu.st not make a 



54 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



one-trick bid unless we hold either the ace or king of 
our declared suit, while some say that we must hold 
a certain trick in it, and so forth. Now all this is 
quite true if it is assumed that we have no other cards 
of value in our hand, but w^hen we have the makings 
of a trick or two outside the suits w^hose pretensions 
we are considering, it not only ceases to be true, but 
becomes utterly untrue. 

And so, in order to arrive at a just conclusion, we 
must divide the question at the beginning of this section 
into two separate, water-tight compartments, as it were, 
and consider it (1) when the bidder's strength is entirely 
confined to his proposed trump suit, and (2) when he 
has strength in other suits as well, but not sufficient 
all-round strength, of course, to justify him in declaring 
no-trumps. In fact, two perfectly distinct questions 
are involved, and I will designate them, for convenience. 
Questions (1) and (2). 

Now as regards Question (1), I have very little com- 
plaint to make with what has been written by the 
general body of authorities upon this subject. In so 
far as they agree with one another, I should say that 
they are correct, and the one piece of common ground 
which it will be found upon analysis that they all share 
is the assertion that 3^ou must not make an original bid 



THE BIDDING 



55 



of one trick in a suit of which you hold small cards 
only. Mere numerical strength, I agree, is not to be 
looked upon as justification for a bid of this nature, 
when the conditions I have attached to Question (1) 
apply. Orthodoxy demands that you must hold some- 
thing better than that, and what that something better 
is I will endeavour to show by a few examples. 

A bid of "one heart" or one spade" is quite in 
order when you hold a suit of hearts or spades consist- 
ing of : — 

(a) Ace, Queen, x, x. x 

(b) King, Queen, x, x, x 

(c) Ace, Knave, 10, x, x 
(a) King, Knave, 10, x, x 

(e) Ace, King, Knave, x 

(f) King, Queen, Knave, 10 

These are suits of minimum strength for the bid when 
your hand, as regards all other suits, is, in the words of 
the play-book, " A blank, my lord." Ace and four 
small ones, king and four small ones, may be pressed 
into the service in an emergency, as when your 
opponents have a score of 20 or more in the third game 
of the rubber, but it is making them do a duty for which 
they a^re not really qualified. The temptation to strain 
a point in favour of a suit of this calibre may sometimes 



56 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



prove too much for one, but when the reader makes 
this kind of bid he must realise that he is saihng rather 
nearer to the wind than he has any business to, and if 
things go wrong he must be prepared to take the con- 
sequences. I will be no party to his rash act, though 
candour compels me to confess that I have been guilty 
of the same sort of immoral conduct on more than one 
occasion. 

Question (2), on the other hand, admits of an entirely 
different answer. It must be so, for if suits a to /, above, 
are good enough for a bid of " one heart " or " one 
spade " when you have not the vestige of a trick out- 
side your proposed trump suit — if it can be said that 
with a hand of this description you have a reasonable 
prospect of fulfilling the contract, should your bid be 
accepted — surely it follows that a somewhat weaker 
suit of hearts or spades will do when you have one or 
two cards of entry to support it ? Obviously the trick- 
making value of the hand may be just as great or 
greater, and if this is so it does seem rather a pity, does 
it not? that you should feel compelled to open the 
bidding with a discouraging No." 

For the chief objections to calling a suit in which you 
do not hold high cards are : (a) that your partner will 
lead it in preference to his own suit, if the opponent on 



THE BIDDIXG 



57 



your left becomes the declarer, which raay soraewhat 
compromise your chances if the hand is played without 
trumps, and {(3) that he will look to you to guard the 
suit you have named, and probably to take two or three 
tricks in it, if he launches into no-trumps, and becomes 
the declarer. But if, in addition to your long suit, 
whatever it may consist of, you have one or two cards 
of entry with which to bring it in, objection (a) cannot 
apply ; for what harm can there be in your suit being 
led to you ? It is just what you would wish. And in 
the same way objection (y8) does not apply, because if 
your partner declares no-trumps he will not care what 
suit your high cards are in, so long as you have one or 
two with which to help him out. He may express 
some surprise when your hand goes down on the table, 
perhaps, but you may treat this with a lofty indifference. 
Your bid will have scared the opponents off leading 
your supposed strong suit, and in any case your length 
will prevent them doing you much damage in it. 

So, having regard to these considerations, I adhere 
absolutely to the statement made in my book on Eoyal 
x\uction Bridge, which was first published in the spring 
of 1913, shortly after the new scoring came in, in which 
I wrote : ''If you hold six small spades or hearts, say, 
ajid strength in other suits as ivell, then there can be 



58 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



no reason why you should not call spades or hearts at 
once." I do not say that this describes the ideal hand 
for the bid, as an original one, but the question is, Can 
you afford to pass on it, and risk being shut out from 
naming your best suit at a later stage ? My experience 
of the game, as played with advanced players of the 
American school, who make a very free use of pre- 
emptive bids, tells me that the answer to this question 
must be an emphatic ''No," and that my early con- 
ception of the matter was a sound one. In fact, the 
whole theory of the game has had to be modified to 
meet these bids. 

Assuming, then, that strength in other suits w^ill 
justify a bid of '' one heart " or " one spade " on some- 
thing less than the minimum hands when the strength 
is confined to the declared suit only, the question remains, 
What degree of strength in other suits is necessary, and 
how weak may the hearts or spades be? This is a 
difficult question to answer, but nothing can be simpler 
than to give instances of hands upon w^hich the bid is, 
in my opinion, justifiable, and to leave the reader to 
judge other hands by comparison with them. With 
this object I have extracted from the text-book men- 
tioned above, the four following hands, upon each of 
which an original bid of " one heart" would be quite 



THE BIDDING 



59 



justifiable, while if the hearts and spades were inter- 
changed the bid would be "one spade" of course : — 



(i) 



Hearts, 


K 10 X X 


X 


Diamonds, 


K X X 




PlnKc 


X X 




Spades, 


y J X 






(ii) 




Hearts, 


Q 9 X X 


X 


Diamonds, 


K y X 






XXX 




Spades, 


X 






(iii) 




Hearts, 


J 10 X X 


X 


Diamonds, 


A X X 




Clubs, 


X X 




Spades, 


A X X 






(iv) 




Hearts, 


A X X X 


X 


Diamonds, 


X X 




Clubs, 


Q J X X 




Spades, 


X X 





It will be seen that in all the above hands the strength 
of the heart suit falls considerably below the standard I 
have prescribed as necessary when the rest of the hand 
is void of tricks. Still, they are heart hands, and " one 
heart " should be bid upon them, and upon all 



60 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



hands of equivalent strength, if the player by whom 
they are held does not want to be left out of the bidding 
altogether, which would be a pity. Hand (iv) is the 
only doubtful customer, the collateral strength outside 
hearts being of a somewhat meagre description. I 
think, however, that it is just worthy of its place as a 
minimum hand for the bid. 

III. Clubs and Diamonds. 

I will now turn my attention to the two lower-valued 
suits, and define, if I can, the sort of hand which 
justifies a bid of " one club " or " one diamond." 

In most cases, of course, a hand which would be 
good enough to declare one heart " upon, would be 
good enough to declare ''one diamond" upon, if the 
diamonds and hearts were interchanged. But this is 
not invariably so, I think, for hearts and diamonds do 
not stand upon quite the same footing, and the dis- 
tinction is even more marked when one comes down to 
clubs. The time may come, perhaps, when all four 
suits are treated indiscriminately in the bidding, but we 
have not reached this stage in the development of 
Auction Bridge yet, and the traditions of the earlier 
form of the game, in which there were wider gaps be- 
tween the values of the suits, still cling to the club de- 



THE BIDDING 



61 



claration, which is supposed only to be made use of as 
an invitation to one's partner to call something higher. 
And I cannot counsel anyone to break away from these 
traditions altogether. 

Actually, of course, the gap between clubs and 
diamonds on the one side, and hearts and spades on 
the other, is a very small one. In the two former suits 
five by-tricks are needed to take the caller out, if his 
score is at love, and in the two latter only four. But 
this is not the whole difference, because there is this 
further point : that, however good your clubs or dia- 
monds may be, you will generally find that the adver- 
saries can take the declaration away from you, if they 
please. 

Take, for example, the case of a player holding a long 
suit of clubs, not headed by any of the top honours. 
Naturally he would like to play the hand with clubs for 
trumps, if possible ; but it is practically hopeless for him 
to try and achieve this result. For there are three 
higher suits for the adversaries to call in, and unless all 
the high cards in these are held by his partner (in which 
case the latter can safely be left to take charge of the 
bidding) it is almost certain that they will outbid him. 

In fact, when you are left to play a hand with clubs 
for trumps it is nearly always on sufferance, and the 



62 ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



same thing is true, though in a less degree, of diamonds. 
When the bidding takes its normal course the final 
declaration is generally in hearts, spades, or no-trumps, 
as the following statistics, which have been compiled 
for me by a friend who has kept the record of over 
5000 hands, prove : — 





No, of Hands 




Declaration. 


Played. 


Percentage. 


No-trumps 


. 1725 


34-3 


Spades 


. 1417 


28-1 


Hearts 


. 1084 


21-5 


Diamonds . 


. 571 


11-3 


Clubs 


. 224 


4-6 


Pass .... 


. . 12 


0-24 


Totals 


. 5033 


100-04 



Note, — These statistics were compiled before pre-emptive bids 
were quite so popular as they are to-day, which perhaps may 
make a difference. 

These figures are very instructive. They show that 
only four hands out of every hundred are played in 
clubs, and eleven in diamonds ; so that there is really 
very little chance of securing the declaration in either 
suit. All you can use them for is to push the other 
side up, and to egg your partner on to some higher call, 
e.g., no-trumps. And even no-trumps, though it still 
heads the list, is not played nearly so often as was the 
case under the old count. Then nearly all the pre- 
liminary bidding was made with a view to building up 



THE BIDDING 



63 



an impregnable position for one's partner as the caller 
of no-trumps. He was to be shown what suits you 
guarded, and so on, in order that he might clinch 
matters with a bold two no-trumps," which it was 
very difficult for the adversaries to overbid. Now, 
practically half the hands are played in either hearts or 
spades, and all this elaborate preparation for the no- 
trump declaration is rendered nugatory. 

. But, still, there are two very useful purposes which 
a bid in clubs or diamonds may serve, and these are 
(i) to tell one's partner what to lead, and (ii) to enable 
him, when the propitious moment arrives, to double. 
And for each of these purposes it is far more important 
that you should hold high caids than numerical strength. 

Let us suppose, for instance, that you are the dealer, 
and open the bidding with " one club." Your partner 
will conclude that you are good for at least one trick in 
clubs, that you are inviting him to make no-trumps, 
and that a club will be the best thing for him to lead if 
the player on his right should become the declarer. If 
in any one of these inferences he is at fault, you have 
put him on a wrong track, and, while the consequences 
may be serious, you have not the same excuse as 
would have been open to you had you made a call in 
hearts or spades. In that case you could have pleaded 



64 



ADVANCED AUCTIOK BEIDGE 



that, as you wished to play the hand in your best suit, 
you took an early opportunity of naming it ; but it 
would be absurd to pretend that you anticipated play- 
ing the hand in clubs {vide the above table). And the 
inferences will be very similar if, instead of ''one 
club," your original bid is ''one diamond." 

And hence it follows that it is wrong to call either 
"one club" or "one diamond" on mere numerical 
strength, You must have one or two high cards at the 
head of your suit, or you have no business to name it 
on the first round of the bidding. You must wait until 
the second round, when you can make a bid of "two 
clubs" or "two diamonds," if you please, as your 
partner will know from this — if he understands an^^- 
thing at all about the game — that your call is a 
" pushing " one, and that he must be chary of support- 
ing it. 

But I trust that the reader will not take this state- 
ment as a general prohibition against making an 
original call in clubs or diamonds except upon over- 
whelming strength, for nothing can be further from 
what I intend. On the contrary, I am all in favour of 
naming any suit which is worth naming at the first op- 
portunity, and particularly so when the rest of the hand 
is not over-strong. For when you have strength in 



THE BIDDING 



65 



two or three suits — an embryo no-trumper, in fact — 
you need have little fear of your adversaries going out ; 
but when your strength is all in one suit you want the 
declaration in that suit, if possible. And so, in order 
that I may not be misunderstood, I will conclude with 
some examples of hands upon which I would not hesi- 
tate to call "one diamond " originally, or one club " 
if the diamonds were replaced by clubs, and vice 
versa : — 

(i) 



Hearts, 


XXX 


Diamonds, 


A Q X X X 


Clubs, 


K J X 


Spades, 


X X 


( 

Hearts, 


ii) 

X X 


Diamonds, 


K J X X X 


Clubs, 


A Q 


Spades, 


X X X X 


( 

Hearts, 


lii) 

XXX 


Diamonds, 


K Q 10 9 


Clubs, 


A J 10 


Spades, 


XXX 


(iv) 


Hearts, 


A X X 


Diamonds, 


Q J X X X 


Clubs, 


X X 


Spades, 


A X X 



66 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



IV. The Effect of Tradition. 

Although the new Auction Bridge is played on very 
different principles from the original form of Auction 
Bridge, in which the suit-values were, as in Ordinary 
Bridge, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 12, respectively, there are, 
nevertheless, certain traditional understandings — you 
can hardly call them conventions " — which have been 
handed on to us from this earlier phase of the game, 
and from which we have not entirely escaped. For 
instance, there is the tradition mentioned in the last 
section that a bid of ''one club" is an invitation to 
one's partner to declare no-trumps. I really do not 
know how much force is to be attributed to this con- 
ception nowadays, when it is possible to go game upon 
a declaration of clubs from love, but it is so far 
recognised that the experienced player never declares 
''one club" on numerical strength alone. Unless he 
has a certain trick in the suit, he will not name it on 
the first round of the bidding, for fear of misleading his 
partner, who may think that he is " shouting " for no- 
trumps. 

And there are many other traditions of a kindred 
nature by which we are somewhat hampered, I think, 
though until they finally die out it would be a mistake 
to ignore them. For although they may have ceased 



THE BIDDING 



67 



to be of any real service, the fact has not been generally 
appreciated, and, consequently, there is a danger about 
treating them as though they did not exist. Whatever 
one's private opinion of their merits may be, it is 
necessary to remember that they are still held in a 
certain degree of respect by other people, and that 
allowance must be made for this fact. It is an element 
which cannot be overlooked, and, this being so, I pro- 
pose to touch upon these traditions one by one, and 
shall endeavour to make an estimate of their present 
value. 

If you take up almost any book on Auction Bridge 
you will see the injunction laid upon the novice that he 
is not to bid one of a suit unless he holds either the ace 
or king of it, and that " come what come may " he must 
be good for at least one trick in that suit. Now this is 
a relic of the tradition I have just referred to, which was 
originally supposed to apply not only to clubs but to 
every suit in the pack. It would have been good advice 
in the days of the old count, perhaps, but, as I have 
already shown, it is now an entirely exploded theory, 
and can be relegated to the rubbish heap. 

And, generally speaking, I am convinced that all 
these inelastic precepts and prohibitions, which are so 
recklessly laid upon the beginner, are just the very 

5* 



68 



ADVANCED i^UCTION BEIDGE 



worst kind of food for him to assirailate. He is told 
that he raust not call this and must not call that, and 
threatened with all sorts of dire consequences if he 
disobeys, until he is frightened almost out of his life, 
whereas what he really needs to be told is what he may 
call. And the important piece of advice is too often 
withheld from him, that, whatever this may happen to 
be, the sooner he calls it the better. 

But this, again, is contrary to a tradition of the early 
days of Auction Bridge in this country, which was to 
the effect that it was an exceedingly clever thing to 
hang back in the bidding, wait for the opponents to 
commit themselves, and then chip in with a successful 
double. This theory was all very well on paper, I 
found, but quite impracticable at the card table, for if 
you do not bid them up, how are your opponents to 
be made to commit themselves ? And, if you take 
a prominent part in the bidding, how are you to con- 
ceal the strength of your hand ? 

However, there is no good in whipping a dead 
horse, and this notion of lying low and allowing your 
adversaries to make fools of themselves has long since 
been discarded by every one who understands the true 
principles of the game. The only quarrel I have with 
this defunct theory now is that its remnants have 



THE BIDDING 69 

served to obscure the truth of its dh-ect converse, viz., 
the very important principle that you should call up 
to the full value of your hand at once. This, and the 
principle that you should never, in any circumstances, 
make a call which is calculated to mislead your partner, 
are in my view the two most vital principles of the 
modern game. 

And from the rule that you were never to bid " one " 
in a suit unless you held the head cards of it, and some 
backing for a no-trump bid — against the merits of which, 
as applicable to the old form of Auction Bridge, I have 
nothing to urge — there arose the convention that when 
you wanted to name a suit of which you did not hold 
the head cards you made a bid of "two" in it. This 
was to be taken as a warning to your partner that you 
were declaring simply on numerical strength, and that 
he was not, therefore, to branch to no-trumps, nor io look 
to you for any tricks if another suit were declared, but 
to leave you to your own devices unless he had a very 
exceptional hand. Bids of this kind were always rather 
questionable in their policy, because they proclaimed 
your weakness not only to your partner, but to the 
other side as well, and many excellent judges, Mr. 
Archibald Dunn amongst them, set their faces against 
them from the very first. But, still, the tradition of 



70 



ADTAXCEB ArCTIOX BEIBGE 



them has not entirely vanished, and I can conceive 
circumstances in which they may even now be usefully 
employed. 

Suppose, for instance, that as dealer and fir'st bidder 
you hold a suit of six diamonds to the king and queen, 
with not another card of value in your hand. If you 
open the bidding with ''one diamond" your partner 
will credit you with support for a no-trumper, and will 
consider himself entitled to go up to at least "two no- 
trumps," if strongly guarded in the other suits, and may 
double the opponents, if they should overcall him, with 
the idea that he will get material help from your hand. 
Obviously, ii will never do to mislead him in this way. 
Bu: if you pass, the second hand may jump in with a 
bid of three hearts " or *' three spades," and all chance 
of saying anything about your diamonds will be irre- 
vocably gone; which would be a pity. And so you 
quite properly fall Ijack upon the convention I have 
referred to and call "two diamonds." the meaning of 
which your partner, if he understands all the niceties of 
the game, will fully appreciate. 

V. The SuppoETiyG Hand. 

In the last ttvr seciions I have endeavoured to 
describe the sort of hand upon which a bid of one 



THE BIDDIXG 



71 



trick in a suit declaration is permissible. I shall now 
pass to the consideration of the hand upon which such 
a bid can properly be supported by the bidder's partner, 
supposing that it is overcalled by one of the adversaries. 

But I can imagine the experienced reader saying : 
" Stop ; you are wasting your time, for every one knows 
the type of hand you are referring to, and can recognise 
it in a moment. There can be no two opinions on the 
subject." So one might suppose, but that this is not 
the case I shall presently prove. 

In the first place, let me state as positively as I can 
that, in order to support your partner's bid of ''one 
heart " (or whatever it may be), and to carry the bidding 
to "two hearts" for him, you must have a certain 
degree of strength in hearts. Three hearts to one of 
the major honours (ace, king, or queen), or even four 
small ones, will do, provided that you hold a trick or 
two in other suits as well. And I may add that the 
value of your two or three small hearts will be very 
much enhanced if there is a gap in your hand, so that 
if your partner is left with the declaration he will be in 
a position to ruff the missing suit. But with only one 
probable trick in hearts and none outside you have not 
a supporting hand, nor would it be right to advance 
the bidding in hearts on side strength alone. 



72 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDG-E 



That this is a true proposition I ara absolutely con- 
vinced ; in fact, I am prepared that my pretensions as 
a writer upon Auction Bridge shall be judged solely by 
the above paragraph, and if any part of it can be proved 
to be incorrect, or fail to commend itself to a jury of 
advanced players as a sound exposition of the theory of 
the game, I will consent^o my books and other writings 
on the subject being burned by the public hangman. 

But that it does not commend itself to everybody is 
shown by the following extract from a well-known 
treatise on Auction Bridge, to which my attention was 
recently called by a correspondent, who asked me to 
reconcile it, if I could, with my own expressed viev/s 
on the subject (an impossible task) : — - 

" When the dealer has opened with a suit declara- 
tion, . . . and the second player has overcalled him in 
another suit, the third player should always back his 
partner up, if he can support him at all. It is not 
necessary to have strength in the declared suit, provided 
that he has a fairly good hand outside that. Three 
probable tricks is quite a good enough hand to support 
a partner on, and many players do it on considerably 
less strength than that." 

Now the writer of the above passage is a gentleman 
whose views are entitled to the greatest respect. They 



THE BIBBING 



73 



are not to be lightly brushed aside, and, speaking for 
myself, I generally find, even when I cannot go all the 
way with him, that there is a good bit of common 
ground between us, and, as a rule, I am able to see that 
there is something to be said upon his side of the 
argument. But for once I am fain to confess that I 
utterly disagree with him. 

For the danger of supporting your partner in a suit 
of which you hold no strength at all is perfectly obvious. 
In the first place, it is calculated to mislead him — 
though this would not be so, of course, if the proposition 
I am contesting were generally accepted — and, secondly, 
if you have three probable tricks in the suits not called 
by your partner, surely it must be better to declare no- 
trumps ? The only objection can be that you have no 
guard in the suit called by your right-hand adversary, 
which you are afraid will be led originally ; but of the 
two dangers I prefer this to the other. 

And, again, if your partner opens the bidding in a 
suit of which you are practically void, this leaves an 
abnormal quantity of the suit to be held by the other 
side, w^hich adds greatly to the danger of a double. 
According to my system of calling, w^hen an original 
bid of ''one heart" is raised by the caller's partner to 
"two hearts," it may be virtually taken for granted 



74 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



that the two partners hold not less than eight hearts 
between them, which leaves only five for their 
opponents. But according to the contrary system the 
original caller and his partner may hold only five 
hearts between them, which leaves eight for the other 
side, and they may all lie in one hand. Imagine what 
a very effective double might be brought off if this 
should be the case, though in all probability the holder 
of the eight hearts would adopt the more subtle plan 
of accepting the bid, being satisfied with his penalties 
at 50 a trick. 

But I agree that your hand should be worth approxi- 
mately three tricks to justify you in supporting a one- 
trickbid, and two of those tricks, if you please, can be 
outside the proposed trump suit. Suppose, for instance, 
that your partner opens the bidding with " one heart," 
and that you hold the following cards : — 

Hearts, K x x 

Diamonds, A x x x 

Clubs, K X X X 

Spades, x x 

This is a typical hand for supporting a heart declara- 
tion, and if the second player overcalls your partner 
you should certainly take the bidding to "two hearts" 
in preference to going into no-trumps." But sup- 
pose the second hand passes ; what are you to do then ? 



THE BIDDING 



75 



Now it may seem superfluous to say anything except 
*' no," because you want the hand to be played in 
hearts, and hearts have been called already. But you 
have to consider the possibility of a pre-emptive bid by 
the fourth player, who is quite likely to be strong in 
spades — your own weakest suic. Suppose, for instance, 
that you pass, and that he "butts" in with a bid of 

three spades." Your partner, having received no 
signal of help from you, may be quite unable to declare 

four hearts " on his own, so to speak, and it is obvious 
that you cannot, without grave risk, carry the bidding 
to ''four hearts " for him. 

So, in order to meet this possible contingency, you 
show your strength at once by bidding ''two hearts" 
before the fourth player gets his say. If he passes, 
your partner gets another chance, and may possibly, 
having regard to the presumed weakness of both your 
opponents, branch to " two no-trumps," in which you 
can give him the most valuable assistance. Or, if the 
fourth hand goes into spades, he will have to call very 
high indeed to keep your partner out, and the latter 
wall, at all events, know that he can safely lead you a 
heart if you have to play the hand upon an adversary's 
declaration. 

These voluntary increases of the original bid, I know, 



76 



ABYANCEB AUCTION BBlDGE 



appear to a great many players fanciful and unneces- 
sary, but they are absolutely essential as a defence 
against the tactics of the pre-emptive bidder, a gentle- 
man who is very much to the fore in these days, and 
must not be allowed to have things too much his own 
way. The reader may be certain that he would not 
dash into the big contracts in which he indulges unless 
it paid him to do so, his object being, of course, to 
prevent one partner coming to the assistance of another 
or to shut out the mention of a suit altogether. Ahd 
the only way to frustrate him is to forestall him ; it is 
much safer, and in the long run more profitable, than 
waiting for him to make his shut-out bid, and then 
attempting to overcall it. x\nd so, when you can help 
your partner in the suit which he calls originally, you 
should let him know this at once, and not postpone the 
announcement until your lips have been automatically 
closed. This is a very important point in the tactics of 
the modern game. 

YI. The Obligation to Support. 

When you make an original bid which is overcalled 
by the other side, and your partner does not support 
you, you are bound to assume that he has not a sup- 
porting hand. And so, unless your own hand is an 



THE BIDDING 



77 



exceptionally strong one, you must not proceed any 
farther with your declaration, whatever it may be, but 
simply leave your opponents in. It is no use hoping 
against hope that if you are left to play the double hand 
you will find in your dummy just the cards which you 
would like to find, because, by accepting the adverse 
bid, your partner has told you definitely that they are 
not there ; and, if he is a reliable player, it is your duty 
to take his word for it. 

But, of course, it is just possible that he may be with- 
holding his support because he feels confident of defeat- 
ing the adverse call, and is afraid that if he advances 
the bidding the opponents may branch to a declaration 
which will not suit his hand so w^ell. Let us suppose, 
for example, that you open the bidding with ''one 
heart," and the adversary on your left overcalls this 
with one no-trump." If your partner should hold the 
following hand — 

Hearts, K x x 
Diamonds, A Q x x 
Clubs, K J X X 
Spades, x x 

he would probably not advance the bidding to ''two 
hearts," although quite strong enough to do so, for fear 
of a branch to " spades," in which he holds nothing at 
all. 



78 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



Gases of this kind form practically the only exception 
to the rule that you should always support your partner 
in the bidding when you can, and it is obvious that 
they do not in the least affect the general principle that 
it is unwise to push on with a declaration when your 
partner's support is withheld. To do this you must 
hold, as 1 have said, an exceptionally strong hand, and 
then you can ignore the implied warning with impunity. 
So when anyone opens the bidding with '-'one heart," 
and, in spite of his partner's refusal to support him, 
advances it to two hearts," this is an indication of 
great strength, and signifies considerably more than 
an original declaration of " two-hearts," which has, in 
fact, rather the opposite meaning. 

And hence it follows that when a player increases 
his bid in this way, and is again overcalled, very little 
strength need be held by his partner to justify the latter 
in supporting him this time. A couple of likely tricks, 
one of which must be in the trump suit, I consider 
sufficient, though with four cards of the opponents' suit 
it may be worth while to sit tight, on the chance of 
getting them dow^n. In fact, the longer one plays 
Auction Bridge the more one realises the truth of the 
old saying, that fools rush in where angels fear to 
tread ; " and I am inclined to think the worst fault of 



THE BIDDING 79 

the mediocre player is that he is, as a rule, so desper- 
ately afraid of leaving the opponents with the declara- 
tion. 

However, the point which I wish to impress upon 
the reader is that between the partners at Auction 
Bridge there should be the most perfect confidence and 
mutual trust. For A and B to play together success- 
fully, A must never make a bid which will mislead B, 
and B must know that he will never make one ; B must 
(subject to the exception referred to above) always sup- 
port A when he can, and A must know that he will al- 
ways do so. One sometimes has the misfortune to cut 
with a partner whose main idea seems to be that he is 
the proper person to play the double hand, and so when 
one opens the bidding with hearts he will branch to 
spades or no-trumps, even though he holds four hearts 
to two honours. This is very demoralising, for, having 
been caught once or twice with his selfish tricks, you 
probably make up your mind to look after your own 
interests, and the result is that you and he are at cross 
purposes for ever afterwards. 

It cannot be too strongly emphasised that one partner 
should never take another out of a suit in which he can 
render substantial support, except to go into one in 
which fewer tricks are needed to win the game, and 



80 ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 

that a sound declaration of hearts or spades is better 
than a shaky no-trumps, any day. 

But all this is quite elementary, and the reader may 
well ask why I am "dinning" principles with which 
he is probably quite as familiar as I am. My reason is 
that these principles are continually being ignored and 
infringed, and it is necessary to state them clearly both 
for that reason and as a preliminary to calling attention 
to certain exceptional cases, to which the principles do 
not apply. 

At the beginning of this section I have stated it as 
a general rule that you should always support your 
partner's bid when you can, but this rule only applies 
when he has made an original or voluntary bid, and 
must not be extended to the case of a forced one. 
And in order that the distinction to which I am refer- 
ring may be thoroughly grasped, I must call attention 
to the difference between a bid made on the first round 
of the bidding and one made on the second, when the 
player has passed on the first. 

The words I have italicised are very important, be- 
cause when they are applicable it is to be inferred that 
the bid is in no sense a voluntary one, as I will proceed 
to explain. 

When Auction Bridge first came in it was thought 



THE BIDDING- 



SI 



very clever to hang back in the bidding on the first 
round, and so throve the onus upon your opponents, and 
compel them to break the ice for you. But this is now 
quite an exploded theory, and although there may be 
exceptional cases vv^hen a strategic advantage is to be 
gained by lying low, the general practice is for the 
dealer, and the other players in their turn, to make the 
highest declarations open to them at once. Indeed, so 
far from hanging back, and luring the opponents on, 
the modern tendency is for the player who has a really 
strong hand to dash in at the first opportunity with a 
pre-emptive bid, and thus silence all opposition if he 
can. 

And so when a player passes upon the first round of 

the bidding — and particularly if he is the first caller, or 

the players in front of him have passed, which comes to 

the same thing — it is to be taken by his partner as an 

indication that there is no bid which he can properly 

make, and nothing lohich he after loards says must be 

regarded as displacing this mference. (Once more I am 

driven to the use of italics, as a means of emphasising 

my point, but I will not indulge in any more for a long 

time.) And, consequently, a bid of "two hearts," say, 

made on the second round of the bidding, when none 

has been made on the first, is indicative simply of a 

6 



8^ 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



desire to push the other side up, or to take the partner 
out of a more dangerous declaration, and must not be 
supported as though it implied pronounced strength in 
hearts. 

Now, strange as it may seem, this very simple pro- 
position is one which the indifferent Auction-player 
never seems to grasp. Although you have told him 
definitely by your initial pass that you have not a heart 
hand, upon your subsequently naming the suit he pricks 
up his ears and dashes in with his support, as though 
he had discovered a veritable El Dorado. And before 
you know where you are he has put you up to ''three 
hearts," and then four hearts," with the inevitable 
result of a double and 400 or 500 to the other side. 

And. it is part of the perversity of human nature that 
the self-same player who lands you into a fix of this- sort 
will, when you want his support, studiously withhold 
it. It is a curious manifestation of his psychology, ap- 
parently, that he can only be bold at the wrong time : 
but, of course, what principally leads him wrong is that 
he has no conception of there being any difference be- 
tween forced calls and voluntary ones. He never stops 
to ask himself why, if you have a good hand of hearts, 
you should risk a general pass by not calling them at 
once, but tumbles headlong into the trap, and, when 



THE BIDDING 



83 



the catastrophe has happened, ^Yill probably reproach 
you for misleading him. • 

VII. The Shut-out Bid. 

Practically the only debatable point in connection 
with the theory of the bidding in Auction Bridge left for 
me to discuss, is the question : To what extent does it 
pay to make what are known as pre-emptive, or shut- 
out," bids? These bids are so described because they 
are made with the intention of shutting out a declar- 
ation which you fear one of the adversaries may make 
if you give them the chance. They are probably quite 
familiar to the reader, and I have no doubt that he has 
employed them himself upon many occasions. 

Suppose, for instance, that the dealer holds a long 
suit of hearts, some collateral strength in diamonds 
and clubs, but no spades. This is the kind of hand 
which he would like to play with hearts for trumps, if 
it can be managed, and above all things he is anxious 
that it should not be played with spades for trumps. 
So, instead of opening the bidding with one heart," 
which he anticipates will be promptly overcalled with 
" one spade," or with ''two hearts," which in all prob- 
ability would be equally ineffective in shutting out 
the latter suit, he starts right away with a bid of 

6 ^ 



84 



ABVAKCEB AUCTION BEIDGE 



three hearts," in the hope that neither of his op- 
ponents maybe strong enough to go "three spades" 
on his own, so to speak. This is called by American 
players a ''pre-emptive" bid, and the term is certainly 
an expressive one. 

Now, like everything else, these pre-emptive bids 
are horribly overdone. They are of great service 
when used judiciously, but there is a certain tj^e of 
bad Auction-player who thinks himself entitled to use 
them habitually, and does so, to the great incon- 
venience of his partners and to the detriment of his 
and their joint interests, for, of course, if you shut 
your opponents out you must shut your partner out as 
well. 

And so my advice to the reader is that he should 
employ these pre-emptive bids somewhat sparingly, 
and not take the responsibility of cutting his partner 
out of the bidding — for that is what it comes to — 
unless he has a definite object in view, and knows that 
it is worth going for. If, for instance, he is very strong 
in clubs, he must not think that he can shut out the 
three higher-valued suits by opening the bidding with 

three clubs," becauss that is hardly to be anticipated. 
But with a big suit of spades or heaiiis, and a gap in 
the hand, it is a different matter, particularly if there 



THE BIDDING 



85 



are reasons for not wishing his paitoer to go into 
no-trumps. 

And when he does indulge in a pre-emptive bid it is 
jus. as well to do the thing thoroughly. Only the 
other day I lost a rubber which, as it had been a very 
hotly contested one, I was most anxious to win, by not 
going high enough with my first bid. I was dealer 
and first caller in the third game of the rubber, and 
was fortunate enough to hold a suit of eight spades to 
four honours, ace, king, queen, and 10, with no other 
card of value in my hand. My original bid should 
have been at least three spades," if not ''four spades," 
bufc thinking that it w^ould not make any difference, as 
I supposed that I could overcall my opponents later 
if I pleased, I opened with only "two spades." The 
next player called "three diamonds," my partner made 
a bid of "three hearts," I think, and the fourth hand 
made it " four diamonds." I now called "four spades," 
of course, but it was too late, for upon the bidding 
coming round to the fourth hand again he went to 
"six diamonds," which I could not very well overcall. 
I was bound to leave it to my partner to exercise his 
discretion, which he did by doubling. Eesult : We 
put them down one, winning 100 points, less 28 for 
honours, whereas we should have won the game and 



86 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



rubber if I had called "four spades" at once, to say 
nothing of 72 above the line. I could have made 
''four spades," but not five, as it turned out, so it was 
just as well I did not embark upon the overbid. 

Vni. The Value of the Side Cakds. 

A common phase of the game is as follows : Z, the 
dealer, has a big suit of hearts, and one of his 
opponents — A, we will say — a big suit of spades. A 
and Z can, and will, run each other up to an almost 
unlimited extent in the bidding, because each knows 
that h s long suit will be valueless if the other's 
declaration is accepted. In the end, the issue, whether 
the declarer's contract is fulfilled or not, is decided 
mainly by the side cards, i.e., the honours in diamonds 
and clubs. If Z's partner, Y, holds the majority of 
these trick-takers, Z will be all right ; but if B holds 
them, Z will be all wrong, and his contract will be 
defeated. 

The possessor of these high cards, then, in the 
undeclared suits, as a rule holds the key to the 
situation. He can probably see enough tricks in his 
own hand to be fairly well confident that the game, 
at all events, will not be lost if the adverse declaration 
is allowed to stand ; and, on the other hand, he has 



THE BIDDING 



87 



some very useful support for his partner which the 
latter knows nothing about, for it has not been dis- 
closed by the bidding. In other words, he is in a 
position of considerable power, both for attack and 
defence, and the question is : How is this to be utilised 
to the fullest possible extent ? 

Now, in a general way, it will probably be better 
to take his chance of defeating the opponent's con- 
tract than to support his partner. He should not 
necessarily double, unless from the state of the score 
the double is a free one, because this adds so much 
to the risk of losing game ; and, moreover, there is 
the further disadvantage attached to doubling that the 
player who is doubled, on being made aware of his 
danger, may branch to a fresh suit. But one need 
never be afraid of leaving an opponent in when one 
is confident that he cannot run to game, and if one is 
fortunate enough to defeat the contract so much the 
better. If there is any doubt in the matter one should 
certainly be satisfied with penalties at 50 a trick, plus 
comparative safety. The position is a simple one, 
and the experienced player, when he is fortunate 
enough to hold the invaluable side cards, has little 
difficulty in turn ng it to the best account. 

So much for this particular phase of the game, 



88 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



Quite another — and a more uncommon one — ^arises 
when Y and Z hold all the hearts and diamonds, let 
us say, between them, and A and B all the spades and 
clubs. In these circumstances it is quite likely that 
whichever side is left with the contract can practically 
slam the other, or, at all events, win the game. This 
position leads to very furious bidding, since each 
party is afraid to leave the other in. To accept the 
adversaries' bid, in fact, becomes like signiag one's 
own death warrant, and this is fully recognised all 
round. So on these occasions it is quite ordinary, 
and indeed justifiable, to go very high in the bidding ; 
but, of course, one must judge the situation properly. 
This is the time when a bold pre-emptive bid pays. 
By calling "four hearts" at once, for example, you 
may secure the declaration at ''four hearts," whereas 
if you had started the bidding with "one heart," or 
even with "two hearts," you might have been ulti- 
mately pushed up to "five" or "sis hearts." To the 
cautious-minded reader it may seem absurd to talk 
about a bid of six by cards as a feasible proposition, 
but as a matter of fact these high bids are sometimes 
made, and rightly so. The bidder knows pretty well 
that he must almost win the little slam if only his 
declaration is accepted, .whereas if his opponents have 



THE BIDDING 



89 



the last word, they probably will win a little slam 
against him. This is the excuse for his seeming rash- 
ness. 

And yet another phase arises when the dealer, Z, 
has a grand no-trumper, barring one particular suit, of 
which he is practically blank. He starts with " one 
no-trump," probably, as it would obviously be very 
dangerous to call two no-trumps " on a hand of this 
description, and is overcalled by one of his opponents 
with a bid of two in his unguarded suit. What he 
wants, of course, is to get the other side up to three in 
order that he may double, and the problem is : How is 
he to do this without great risk to himself? Let us 
suppose, for example, that Z holds the following hand : — 

Hearts, A Q x 

Diamonds, x x x 

Clubs, K Q 10 X 

Spades, A K x 

His opening bid of one no-trump " is overcalled by 
an opponent with "two-diamonds." If it is his left- 
hand opponent. A, he may be pretty sure that the latter 
does not hold the diamonds solid, because if he did he 
would probably have accepted Z's bid and, in these 
circumstances, therefore, he will not incur any excessive 
danger by declaring two ''no-trumps," Indeed, A 



90 ADVANCED AUCTION BKIDGE 



may be bluffed by this bid into not leading diamonds at 
all. But, if the " two-diamonds " bid comes from his 
right-hand opponent, B, no inference of this sort can 
be drawn, and Z's best chance of pushing B up will 
be to overcall him with 'Uhree clubs." If this bid is 
doubled, and Y does not take him out, he can, if he 
chooses, fall back on " two no-trumps." But what he 
would prefer, of course, is that the opponents should 
go on in diamonds (for, though weak in the suit, he is 
strong enough to put them down with his side cards 
alone), and this they are far more likely to do over 
a bid of ''three clubs" than "two no-trumps." The 
latter would probably frighten them out of the auction 
altogether. 

IX. Doubling. 

As Auction Bridge is now played, there is considerably 
less doubling of the opponents' contracts than there 
used to be. Or, at least, this is so when every one at 
the table understands the game and does not indulge in 
reckless calling, because the personal element has, of 
course, something to do w^ith it. Some players still go 
in for the dangerous practice of keeping the flag fl}^ng, 
as it is termed, by making bids which they cannot 
possibly fullil, and so afford ample opportunities for 



THE BIDDING 



91 



doubling ; but the more wary amongst us have long 
since realised that these tactics are only to be resorted 
to in the final game of a rubber, and even then are to 
be used sparingly. And so our bids are generally 
treated vv^ith a certain amount of respect. It is realised 
that we do not offer to make four hearts," for instance, 
unless we have approximately a ''four hearts" hand, 
and that, consequently, if an opponent is relying upon a 
big suit of clubs, say, together with an honour in hearts 
and a couple of tricks in spades and diamonds, to put 
us down, the chances are that his clubs will be ruffed 
on the very first round. In fact, 3'ou have to bear in 
mind nowadays that your adversaries are not exactly 
beginners, and that they would not make a bid of this 
description, probably, unless they had calculated the 
matter out pretty carefully beforehand. 

And another thing which has contributed to diminish 
the amount of doubling is the introduction of the new 
suit-values. This has had the effect of making it very 
much easier to branch from one contract to another, 
the values being much nearer to each other than was 
formerly the case; and, as it is useless to double an 
opponent's bid unless you are able to double any higher 
contract to which he may branch, you must not only 
have strength in his declared suit, but in the other suits 



92 



ADVANCED AUCTION BBIDGE 



as well. In fact, you must have an exceptionally fine 
hand if you are able to double a call of " two hearts," 
say, which can be overcalled with two spades," or 
three in clubs or diamonds, and a hand of this descrip- 
tion will generally be put to a better use in winning 
you the game in no-trumps. 

So, having regard to these considerations, it is easily 
seen that a double of a two-tricks contract can very 
seldom be a profitable one. It is better to wait until 
you have got the opponents up to a three-, or, if possible, 
a four-tricks contract before you spring your mine, so 
to speak, because there can then be little chance of 
their branching to a fresh suit, and there will certainly 
be a better chance of your defeating them. And if there 
is any doubt about the matter, it is wise to be satisfied 
with your 50 points a trick, because there can be nothing 
more disastrous than a double which does not come off. 
Indeed, to the incautious doubler I feel that I cannot 
do better than quote the opinion of a very astute friend 
of mine, who asserts that he looks upon his double as a 
bad one unless he succeeds in putting the enemy two 
tricks under their contract. If they are only one down 
he considers that he has sailed too close to the wind, 
as it was not worth taking the risk of letting his 
opponents out for the sake of an extra 50 points. 



THE BIDDIKG 



93 



When, however, the double is what is called a " free " 
one, the contract being such that, if it be fulfilled, the 
declarer w^ll go game, whether he has been doubled or 
not, there is rather less need for circumspection, and 
a sporting risk may be taken. If, for instance, an 
opponent has the temerity to call ''four spades" over 
your four hearts," he leaves you hardly any option but 
to double him. For you cannot bid four-no-trumps " 
with, presumably, a prodigious suit of spades against 
you, and " five hearts " is too slender a plank for even 
the most intrepid feet to walk upon. So if you have a 
trick or two in clubs and diamonds, you cannot take 
much harm by doubling the declaration, but you must, 
as I have already pointed out, reckon with your hearts 
being ruffed at once. 

The great mischief of doubling when you have not a 
true doubling hand is that you mislead your partner, 
and may prevent him from saving the situation, as he 
otherwise would, mth an overbid. So my advice to 
the reader is that he should not shut his eyes to the 
reasonable prospects of the case, and should not alto- 
gether ignore the chances of failure, even when a " free " 
double is open to him. In fact, I am inclined to think 
that there is a great deal too much talk about the " free " 
double in Auction Bridge, because it gives people the 



94 



ADVANC^lD AtrCTION BBIDaE 



idea that when the opponents' contract will take them 
out you have everything to gain and nothing to lose by 
doubling, which is hardly the case. Suppose, for in- 
stance, that, without considering the matter very care- 
fully, you double a declaration of " four hearts," just 
because it is a free double, and you want to show your 
appreciation of the fact. If the declarer fulfils his con- 
tract, you lose an extra 82 points, if he is one over his 
contract you lose an extra 140 points, and so on ; so 
that, after all, you are venturing a substantial stake on 
your side, and it is well to see that you are justified in 
doing so by your prospective gain. 

X. Geneeal Policy. 

Speaking in a general way, the policy which the 
player of Auction Bridge should pursue, if he wishes 
to win — and this, I am afraid, is the mental attitude of 
most of us, whether we admit it or not — is to wait 
patiently for the good hands which are bound to come 
sooner or later. It is the greatest mistake in the 
world to try and force the game upon the bad ones, 
because this leads to the loss of those excessive penal- 
ties which must at all costs be avoided. What you 
have to realise is that you cannot possibly hope to win 
all your rubbers. It is unreasonable to expect anything 



THE BIBDINC^ 



95 



of the kind, and so when you see that the game is 
going hopelessly against you, you should refrain from 
all frantic endeavours to save the situation, and wait 
resignedly for the turn of the tide. 

The mistake which the inexperienced player invar- 
ably makes is that he is bold at the wrong time, i.e., 
when the weight of the cards is against him, instead of 
lying low and allowing his opponents to win a small 
rubber from him, if they can. What in effect he does 
is to buy them off, as it were, at the cost of an expen- 
sive double, and naturally they are quite willing to 
forgo winning a game, even if it be the rubber game, 
when they see their way to picking up 400 or so for 
penalties. This is what they are out for quite as much 
as for winning rubbers, and the only w^ay to frustrate 
them is to let them have the declaration and do their 
worst with it. 

But I do not say, of course, that it is never right 
to make a risky call, as a means of saving a game or 
rubber. Everything must depend upon the circum- 
stances of the case, the degree of risk incurred, and so 
forth. To be precise^ a game is worth exactly 125 
points to the side which wins it, if it be the first or 
second game of the rubber, while the third and last 
game is w^orth 250. And hence it follows that if you 



96 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



see your way to saving one of the earlier games of a 
rubber by incurring a loss of not more than 125 points, 
you are justified in doing so, while in the final game — 
provided that it is necessarily the final game — you may 
jettison anything up to 250, but not more, with the 
same object in view. This is a very important point in 
the theory of Auction Bridge, which must not be lost 
sight of ; but^ at the same time, it is generally so im- 
possible to assess the amount of your prospective losses 
beforehand that it cannot be said to afford much en- 
couragement to deliberate overcalling. 

Closing the Bidding. 

And another thing to remember is that the player 
who is in the position to close the bidding, by accepting 
an adverse bid, and thereby making it the final one, and 
re-opens the auction with a doubtful bid or ill-considered 
double, incurs a serious responsibility. Suppose, for in- 
stance, that the first three players pass, and that the 
fourth and last bidder has only a moderate hand. He 
should pass, too; because it is quite evident that some- 
one is lying low, and the odds are two to one that it is 
not his partner. Or, again, suppose the fourth bidder 
has the chance of leaving his opponents in with a de- 
claration in one of the lower-valued suits^ diamonds or 



THE BIDDING 



97 



clubs, in which he knows pretty well that they cannot 
win the game, whereas if he overcalls them there is a 
possibility of their branching to hearts, say, in which 
he is entirely unprotected. In these circumstances it 
will generally be right to quietly close the bidding ; be- 
cause nothing can be more galling than to feel afterwards 
that you have given your enemies the impulse they 
were in need of to drive them on to victory. 

And, similarly, when your partner is doubled and 
you have so much support for him that, in spite of the 
double, you feel confident he will fulfil his contract, 
there is no occasion to warn your opponents of the fact 
by a re-double. If you are the last bidder you should 
certainly close the bidding, but if the double proceeds 
from the opponent on your right, so that the bidding 
comes to you before it reaches your partner, it may be 
worth re-doubling as a means of letting him know that 
he is quite safe, and need not branch. The only other 
excuse for re-doubling is that you are able to double 
any higher call by the adversaries, in case they recon- 
sider their position and retreat from it, and can win 
more that way; but when it is remembered that a 
doubled contract fulfilled nearly always carries with it 
the game (value 125 points at least, vide supra), it is 
easy to see that this can seldom be the case. 

7 



98 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



And, above all, you should not frighten an opponent 
out of a light no-trumper by disclosing a great suit with 
which you can, at all events, save the game, and may, 
with a little luck, get him under his contract. This is 
more particularly the case when you are pronouncedly 
weak in a more valuable suit, which your partner has 
not called, and which, therefore, there is every likelihood 
that one or other of your opponents can branch to. If 
you are to have the first lead, which is essential to the 
manoeuvre I am describing, it follows that the original 
no-trump bid must have proceeded from the player on 
your right, but, still, the final one may come from his 
partner, and, if this is the case, you should close the 
bidding by accepting it. 

To illustrate this, let us suppose that Z, the dealer 
opens with " one no-trump," and A, the player on his 
left, has the following hand : — 

Hearts, Q x x 
Diamonds, K Q J x x x 
Clubs, A X X 
Spades, x 

A should not frighten the opponents out of no- 
trumps with a call in diamonds, but say *'no," it being 
more than probable that he and his partner between 



THE BIDDING 



99 



them can defeat the contract. Y, too, says "no"; B 
calls ''two hearts"; Z ''no"; A "no" again; and 

Y " two no-trumps/' showing a guard in hearts. If 
this bid is accepted by B and Z, it should be accepted 
by A as well, the thing to be feared being a branch by 

Y or Z to spades. 

XI. Some Further Points about the Bidding. 

Although the experienced player has no liking for 
those ridiculously high contracts in which the tyro 
freely indulges, such as "five clubs," " six hearts," and 
so forth, you will generally find, nevertheless, that he 
is a difficult person to take the declaration away from, 
and that, somehow or other, when you are most anxious 
to secure it, he is always ready with an overbid. Now, 
how does he manage it? How is it that, without in- 
curring too great a risk (which would be quite foreign 
to his policy, one may be sure) he is, on nearly every 
occasion, able to put up a strong opposition at the 
auction, and to drive you into contracts which, in the 
result, you find it impossible to fulfil ? What is the 
explanation ; for it would be absurd to suppose that he 
holds better cards than other people ? 

Weil, the explanation is that he knows exactly how 
close he can sail to the wind with safety ; or perhaps 

7* 



100 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



I had better say with comparative safety, because, when 
there is a game to be saved, or the chance of pushing 
an opponent into an unprofitable contract, the modern 
Auction-player thinks very little about the danger of 
being one, or even two, down. And, moreover, it 
frequently happens that he is emboldened by the fact 
of there being more than one string to his bow, so that 
if you double him in one suit he can branch to another, 
and if that will not do be off to a third, and so on. 
Indeed, with the type of ruse player I have in mind, 
his system of bidding is so amazing and intricate thai 
it is impossible to know when you have really got him. 
He is as slippery as an eel, and as hard to hold on to 
as a rope of sand. 

But his modus operandi is by no means so mysterious 
as it seems, what the player of limited experience fails 
to realise being that an apparently dangerous call can 
be made with comparative impunity provided there is 
a means of escape if one is doubled. When a burglar 
breaks into a house the first thing he does, I have 
heard, is to throw open the back door, so that, should 
the police arrive unexpectedly, he may be able to run 
out that w^ay, and this is the principle upon which 
some of the so-called mad" bids are made by players 
whose intelligence and skill is beyond dispute. They 



THE BIDDING 



101 



are not really so mad as they seem, because the player 
who makes them has secured his means of retreat. 

Let me cite the following suppositious case as an 
illustration : — 

Z deals, we will say, and picks up the following 
hand : — 

Hearts, Q 2 
Diamonds, Q iO 7 6 5 
Clubs, A K Q 9 8 7 
Spades, None 

Z's first bid is obviously " one club." The next 
player, A, says no " ; Y declares " one heart " ; and B 
"three spades," showing great strength in the suit. 
Z cannot very well overcall this with ''five clubs," nor 
is he strong enough to put Y up to four in hearts ; but 
nothing has been said by the other side about diamonds, 
and, as he holds numerical strength in the suit, backed 
by his big suit of clubs and his partner's hearts, he may 
call " four diamonds." If this lands him in a double 
there will at least be several ways out, for it will be 
open to him or his partner to fall back on either clubs 
or hearts, while the latter may possibly, but not very 
probably, be able to declare " three no-trumps." 

And, dangerous as the diamond call may seem in 
the above illustration, there are just two points about 



102 ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



it to which I should like to draw the reader's attention. 
The first is that it cannot mislead Y, because Z has 
shown by his original bid in clubs that th^'s is the suit 
in which he holds the greater strength, if not length; 
and the second is that it only just goes over B's bid 
by one pip, and so leaves the door open as wide as it 
can be left for a further call. This is important when 
you anticipate a hostile double, and wish your partner 
to use his discretion as to taking you out. 

And, generally speaking, it is as well to choose the 
overbid which involves making the lowest number of 
tricks. Suppose, for example, that Z deals and opens 
the bidding with " one no-trump " on the following 
hand : — 

Hearts, A K J 3 2 
Diamonds, Q 10 7 
Clubs, K 6 5 
Spades, A 7 

A and Y both pass, and B calls two clubs." Z's 

next bid is obviously two hearts." A overcalls this 

with " three clubs," showing that the whole suit is not 

with B, and Y and B pass. Z should now bid " two 

no-trumps," which involves making only eight tricks 

to fulfil the contract, and leaves it open to Y to branch 

to three in diamonds or spades. He has practically 

told the latter that he is only singly guarded in clubs, 



THE BIDDIKG 



103 



SO there should be no danger of his being run up to 
" three no-trumps." The back-door is wide open, and 
it is the burglars' own fault if they are caught. 

And, of course, it is impossible to overrate the 
advantage of giving your partner a choice of suits in 
which to support you, but you must make him clearly 
understand that when you open the bidding with no " 
you have a poor hand, and that no bid which you may 
make later in the auction must be taken as withdrawing 
this intimation. 

But why should you enter the arena at all on a poor 
hand, it may be asked — why not leave all the bidding 
to the other players ? — and I agree that this is generally 
the most prudent course to adopt. But circumstances 
alter cases, and it is possible when your partner has 
shown great strength, to come in with excellent effect 
on a seemingly worthless hand. Suppose, for instance, 
that you hold five spades to the queen and knave, and 
no other card worth mentioning. This is not a hand 
upon which you could, without grave risk, call *^ one 
spade " originally. But if your partner were to bid 
" two no-trumps," and be over-called with three 
hearts," it would be quite right to call " three spades," 
and you might reasonably hope to make both contract 
and game. 



104 ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



And another use of these bids upon numerical 
strength — the anathema of the old-fashioned player — 
is that they often have the effect of pushing the 
opponents into a bid which ^^our partner can double. 
But you must warn him that when you open the 
bidding with a pass he is to double only on the contents 
of his own hand. He will be aware of this, of course, 
if he is an enlightened player, but as I find that in 
most card-rooms this type of person is in a minority, 
I am afraid I must say that the warning will not as 
a rule be superfluous. 

I do not say that you should start every rubber with 
a short lecture on the conventions of xiuction Bridge, 
because that would be resented, and properly so, by 
most partners ; but there are less aggressive and equally 
effective ways of letting people know the principles 
upon which you propose to bid. And if you can estab- 
lish the kind of understanding I have indicated you 
will be in a position to get the full value out of your 
bad hands, which is a decided advantage. If you can- 
not, you must treat them as waste-paper, and reserve 
your efforts until a more favourable occasion presents 
itself. 



THE BIDDING 



105 



XII. The Bogus Call. 

Very likely the reader has never met with that curious 
Auction Bridge anomaly, the bogus call ; because the 
great majority of players very properly play by rule, 
only making such bids as the cards warrant, so that in 
no circumstances can their partners be misled. Should 
this be the case, however, he has still something to 
learn about the game, and, to complete his education, 
I will do my best to enlighten him as to this peculiar 
phase of it. 

By the expression bogus " call I mean a call which 
is justified by nothing but the exigencies of the occasion 
on which it is made, and the effect . which it may be 
hoped to have in misleading the adversaries. It in- 
fringes every rule of the game, in fact, except the rule 
of self-preservation, which is a principle innate in all 
of us, and which, in time of stress, naturally asserts 
itself. I will give some illustrations. 

Your opponents have a score of 20 or more in the 
third game of the rubber ; your partner passes ; and 
the opponent on your right declares " one no-trump.*' 
Now suppose that you have six clubs to the king, queen, 
knave, the ace to four hearts, and queen to three spades. 
What are you to do ? If you allow the no-trump con- 
tract to stand it will probably be fulfilled^ and you will 



106 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



lose game and rubber ; and if, on the other hand, you 
overcall it with " two clubs," the opponents will prob- 
ably branch to diamonds, and the same result will 
follow. So you harden your heai-t, throw prudence to 
the winds, and declare two diamonds," which, wild 
as it may seem, is not such a bad call in the circum- 
stances. For if you are left in with your contract you 
will at all events save the rubber ; if you are doubled 
you can branch to clubs ; and if your opponents go to 
" two no-trumps," you will lead your clubs and probably 
get them down. This last is, of course, your objective, 
but it may not materialise. Your opponents may like 
the diamond call too well to disturb it, or they may go 
into hearts or spades, but then you will be able to push 
them up to a three-tricks contract \vith your clubs ; and 
there will at least be a chance of getting them down. 

The chief danger is, of course, that your partner may 
take up the tale in diamonds, and push things too far 
for you ; but as no-trumps has been declared against 
you he should have the good sense not to go to more 
than three diamonds," which you can take out with 

four clubs." So that really the risk involved in this 
particular call is not so great as it seems. It is a mis- 
leading one, certainly, but then you are in a position to 
take control of the situation and insist on the hand 



THE BIDDING 



107 



being played in clubs. All I say is, don't make these 
calls if you don't like them, but don't be utterly dumb- 
founded when they are made against you. 

And another instance of the bogus call is the original 
call of " two " in a suit of which the caller is void. 
This, on the face of it may seem an absurdity ; but it 
is nevertheless a well-established ruse amongst players 
of the forward school, the object being to prevent the 
unprotected suit being led against a subsequent de- 
claration of no-trumps. Suppose, for instance, you are 
very strong in hearts, spades, and clubs, but have no 
diamonds. If you start the bidding with two dia- 
monds," there is a reasonable chance of your being 
either doubled or overcalled, when you branch to ''two 
no-trumps," and it will require very astute opponents 
to know that the one thing you fear is a diamond 
lead. 

So when you play with a certain type of partner you 
must beware of putting him back into a suit from which 
he persists in branching. This is the great difficulty 
which the bogus caller has to contend with — the fact 
that an unimaginative partner may refuse to believe 
that he cannot stand having the hand played in what 
is apparently his best suit. And, having regard to the 
dangers of being put up to '* four " in a suit of which 



108 ADYAXCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



you are void, it may be doubted whether these calls are 
worth making. 

Still, they add very much to the colour and variety 
of the game, and my own experience is that when 
employed judiciously they are often fruitfal of good 
results. 



PAET II. 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND. 

It is a difficult matter to estimate the relative import- 
ance of the bidding for the declaration and the actual 
play of the hand, and I am inclined to think that this 
is not a very fruitful subject of inquiry. Some writers 
go so far as to assert that the bidding is everything and 
the play nothing, and that when the final declaration 
has been made, a card is led, and dummy's hand goes 
down upon the table, the interest ceases. But, whilst 
I am ready to admit that on the whole you are likely to 
lose more by faulty calling than by faulty play, I am 
bound to say that I do not take this extreme view 
of the matter. On the contrary, my experience is that 
there is often plenty of scope for skill in the 'plsuj of the 
cards, and it is here, of course, that the scientific card- 
player has his principal advantage over mediocrity. 

Indeed, Auction Bridge would be a very poor game 
if this were not the case. It would be nothing more 
nor less than an amplified kind of Poker, in which game, 

as the reader is no doubt aware, the cards are never 

109 



110 ADVANCED AUCTION BKIDGE 

played at all, but the coup turns upon a mere com- 
parison of the hands, after the players — or as many of 
them as may remain " in " — have each agreed to wager 
a level stake upon their holding the best at the table. 
It is quite true, probably, that Auction is rather less 
scientific, and a less favourable game for the first-class 
card-player, than ordinary Bridge ; but this is not to say 
that it is a game in which the play of the cards goes 
for nothing, and that the skill which some of us have 
acquired by a long, laborious apprenticeship at Bridge 
and Whist is wholly at a discount. If this were so, I, 
for my part, would have nothing to do with it. But, 
as a matter of fact, there is, as I have already stated, 
plenty of scope for skill in the play of the cards ; and, 
although it is true that a certain percentage of the 
hands can almost be said to play themselves, there are, 
nevertheless, frequent occasions when the most interest- 
ing problems present themselves. 

I. The Original Lead. 

Take, for instance, the question of the original, or 
blind, lead, before dummy's cards are exposed to view. 
This, it must be admitted, is often reduced to a matter 
of certainty by the bidding for the declaration. For 
the leader's partner may have shown great strength in 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



111 



a particular suit during the auction, and in these cir- 
cumstances it would be little short of a crime not to 
lead it to him. And, generally speaking, it may be 
taken as axiomatic that it is better to lead your partner's 
suit — since he would not declare it at all, probably, 
unless he wished it to be led' — than your own, unless he 
has supported you in the latter. But in these days of 
pre-emptive bids there will be many occasions upon 
which your partner will have had no chance of showing 
a suit at all, and even when a suit has been shown 
during the bidding it does not necessarily follow that it 
should be led originally. 

A fairly common case in which I, personally, do not 
think myself bound to lead my partner's suit arises in 
the following way : I deal, and the bidding goes round 
to my partner, who declares ''one heart," we will say. 
The fourth bidder declares '' no trumps," and, having 
no card of any value in my partner's suit, I pass again, 
as does the player on my left. Now if my partner 
goes to two-hearts," and is overcalled again with '' two 
no-trumps," which he does not double, I consider it 
very doubtful policy to lead him a heart. 

For one thing is perfectly certain, and that is that the 
declarer is not afraid of hearts. If he were he would 
not have gone on bidding in no-trumps, but would 



112 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



either have branched to something else or allowed the 
bidding to go round to his partner, to see what the 
latter would call. In fact, it may be pretty well inferred 
that he is at least doubly guarded in hearts, and if this 
is the case it is obvious that my partner must have not 
less than two cards of entry to bring in his suit, assum- 
ing that I am quite short in it. 

But if my partner holds two cards of entry outside 
hearts, the question is : Cannot these be used to gi^eater 
advantage — or, at least, to an equal advantage — in 
establishing some sait of my own ? Of course, every- 
thing must depend upon the nature of my hand, and I 
must not wantonly sacrifice my partner's hand to my 
own ; but my experience is that in the circumstances I 
have described the declarer often goes two no-trumps " 
in the fervent hope that hearts will be led, and that if 
another suit is opened instead his plans mav be baffled. 

And, to take another side of the question, the other 
day I held a big suit of clubs to king, knave, etc., and 
one or two cards of entry, which would have justified 
me, to a certain extent, in leading my long suit up to 
the declarer, although the latter had called no-trumps 
over my call of one or two in clubs, I forget which. 
But, instead of doing so, I led a weak suit, and waited 
for clubs to come to me, which completely upset his 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



113 



apple-carfc. He had ace, queen, 10, etc., of clubs, and 
counted on making at least two tricks in the suit, but as 
it was never led by me he only made one, and failed in 
his contract. 

On the other hand, of course, there is such a thing 
as a bluffing declaration of no-trumps over a suit in 
which the declarer has no guard, or, what is almost 
equally risky, a declaration of *'two no-trumps" over 
two hearts," say, with only a single guard in the suit. 
But the best way to counter this manoeuvre is by a 
double. If, in the case I have described above, the 
younger hand thinks his hearts so good that he would 
like them led, in spite of the fact that he has received 
no support from his partner, and that two no-trumps " 
has been declared over him, he should make sure of it 
by doubling. Then the original leader cannot go wTong, 
for when your partner has doubled you are bound to 
play his game in preference to your own. 

But, as I have said, there are numerous occasions 

upon which no indication is afforded by the bidding, 

from the fact that a high, pre-emptive bid is made 

right away, and every one's mouth is closed. And in 

these circumstances, the problem of the original lead 

is of greater difficulty. You may, of course, be able 

to guess at the suit which the pre-emptive bidder is 

8 



114 



ADYAXCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



afraid of ; but even then it is a question whether you 
will do any good by leading it, for, in the first place, it 
may be held in strength by his partner, and, secondly, 
if he is void of the suit it means letting him into the 
lead with a ruff, and no great good is likely to be done 
by forcing a player who presumably holds not less than 
six or seven trumps. 

The result, therefore, is that you are thrown back 
upon first principles, and must lead as though it were 
a hand at Ordinary Bridge. Get a look at the table 
on the cheap, if you can ; lead from a sequence of 
high cards, if you have one ; or lead a singleton. But 
do not lead from a tenace or from an unsupported 
honour, such as the king or queen. These are maxims 
which we learnt in our Bridge infancy, and they still 
apply. 

And^ touching upon the lead of a singleton, which 
is, of course, only likely to be directly profitable if you 
hold two or three small trumps for ruffing, it may 
nevertheless be a sound measure to open with a short 
suit or singleton even in a no-trump hand, to escape 
leading from your tenaces, which is just what the 
declarer would wish you to do. For it must be re- 
membered that in Auction Bridge the first lead is 
always up to, not through, the presumed strength ; 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



115 



and, consequently, whereas your tenace, if held up, 
may capture a valuable card of the declarer's, upon 
which he relies for one of his tricks, this card is at 
once freed, and made good, if your tenace is led from. 
Some hands, in fact, have to be played upon purely 
defensive lines ; you refuse to be drawn, and leave the 
enemy to make the running, which brings him up 
against your entrenchments, as it were, with disastrous 
effect for him. 

So do not let the lead of a short suit be utterly 
despised, even at no-trumps. It is not jeu de regie, 
of course, but that cannot be helped, and one has to 
act sometimes upon the sailor's maxim of any port 
in a storm." In fact, there is a certain type of hand, 
with no suit of pronounced strength, from which a 
weak opening is almost obligatory. 

The kind of occasion upon which it is permissible to 
lead a weak suit against a no-trump declaration may 
be illustrated in the following way. Let us suppose 
that you are the second bidder at the auction, being 
seated upon the dealer's left, and hold the following 
hand : — • 

Hearts, A Q x x 
Diamonds, Q lo x 
Clubs, J X X X 
Spades, lo x 

8* 



116 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



The dealer opens the bidding with ''one no-trump," 
we will say, and you, in common with the two remain- 
ing players, pass, so that you have no indication from 
your partner or from anyone else as to the distribution 
of the suits. What are you to lead ? 

Now let us first consider the advisability of leading 
a heart. You have not had an opportunity of naming 
the suit during the bidding, and so the only way of 
showing your partner that you are strong in it is to 
lead it. And again, if you lead a heart to begin with, 
and your partner, when he gets in, returns your lead, 
you will in all probability make both your ace and 
queen, and may by good fortune establish a long card 
as well. So really there is something quite substantial 
to be gained by the heart lead, in addition to the fact 
that it would be the orthodox lead if you were playing 
whist. 

But against this there is the consideration that 
whether you open with a heart or not your tenace will 
probably be led up to at some time or other during 
the hand, for if your partner sees that dummy is weak 
in the suit he will naturally lead it, and while you keep 
it up it will be impossible for the declarer to make 
either the king or the knave, assuming that the former 
card is in his own hand. And even if the king should 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



117 



be in dummy a lead through it from the ace and queen 
is not likely to do you much good, especially if the 
knave should be with the declarer. 

So, practically, all you give up by not starting with 
your best suit is the very problematical chance of 
establishing a long heart, always supposing that the 
king is not held by your partner but by the declarer, 
which is rather to be inferred from the declaration. 
And this, I am inclined to think, is more than counter- 
balanced by the advantage of holding up your tenace, 
and so depriving the declarer of what would otherwise 
be a very probable trick for him ; though I will admit 
that the matter is one upon which opinions may 
reasonably differ. 

But if there is anything to be said for opening with 
a heart, there can be nothing at all for opening with a 
diamond, which would mean the sacrifice of a very 
useful tenace for no corresponding gain, so we can 
dismiss this as being quite outside the potentialities of 
the case. And this brings us to the question whether 
the original lead should be a club. 

Personally I would rather lead a club from this hand 
than a heart, because there is a chance of establishing 
the former suit and using one's high cards in the latter 
to bring it in ; but, on the other hand, there is this 



118 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



great objection to leading from four to a knave : that 
you give up what may prove to be an invaluable guard 
in your opponents' suit for a very small prospective 
gain. And, moreover, the club suit is the one which 
the declarer and his partner are most likely to hold in 
strength, which adds to the danger. 

So, on the whole, I am in favour of keeping all 
these suifcs intact and leading the 10 of spades, which 
in all probability your partner will know is merely a 
strengthening card. It is true that he is not likely to 
be very strong in spades, or he would have made a bid 
in spades, but then, no more are your opponents. 
Indeed, it may fairly be inferred that no one at the 
table holds more than four of the suit, and if this is so 
no great harm can be done by leading it. The worst 
that can happen is that a possible trick-making card 
in your partner's hand may be sacrificed, but this is 
the case every time you put him under the declarer in 
an untouched suit, as you are bound constantly to do. 

And, generally speaking, when no-trumps has been 
declared, and the original leader has a well-protected 
hand, with no pronounced strength in any particular 
suit, he should, I think, if he has received no indica- 
tion from his partner, lead a weak suit in preference 
to opening from a single honour or tenace. In normal 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



119 



circumstances, of course, the orthodox lead from 
strength, which imphes an intention to estabhsh the 
suit first led, is in every way desirable ; but in the 
hand referred to above the circumstances are not 
normal : (1) because there has been no indication 
from the leader's partner ; (2) because there is no suit 
in which he himself is markedly strong; and (3) 
because his hand is chiefly composed of guarded cards 
and tenaces. 

And, similarly, when the original leader has declared 
a suit which is composed of five cards to the king, say, 
and his partner has refused to support him in it during 
the bidding, he will find this an absolutely hopeless 
suit to lead at no-trumps. I can speak from experience 
here, for I have tried again and again, in default of 
any indication from my partner, to establish suits of 
this nature, and I have found it absolutely useless — 
or, at least, one must have such a bevy of cards of 
entry to eke it out that one would probably call no- 
trumps oneselft Though when a trump has been de- 
clared there is the chance of being able to give one's 
partner a ruff, of course. 

But, on the other hand, you may sometimes be in a 
position to lead with advantage a suit which has been 
declared on your left, in which you yourself are weak, 



120 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



and in which the opponent on your right has shown 
an obvious desire that the hand shall not be played ; 
for this means that all the strength in the suit is con- 
fined to its caller and your partner, and the latter has 
the advantage of position. It may seem a strong 
measure to lead a suit which has been declared 
against you, and I don't know that it is a very safe 
thing to do in a no-trump hand ; but it may, never- 
theless, get you out of the necessity of leading from 
a tenace, which it is always desirable to avoid. We 
have known these leads come off, and we have known 
them fail, upon almost equally numerous occasions, so 
the conclusion to which we are led is that great dis- 
cretion is needed in employing them. 

What to Lead when youe Paetnee Doubles. 

And, lastly, there arises the question : What suit 
ought you to lead when your partner doubles no- 
trumps? A declaration of ''one no-trump " is hardly 
ever doubled, but ''two no-trumps " may be, and if the 
doubler is not also the leader, it is obviously important 
that the latter should understand what is expected of 
him. 

Now this may be briefly stated as follows : — 

(1) If the doubler has named a suit during the bid- 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



121 



ding, that suit must be led, and if he has named two 
the suit which he named first. 

(2) If the doubler has not named a suit during the 
bidding, but his partner has, the latter's suit must be 
led ; for that is what the doubler reasonably anticipates 
will be the course of events. 

(3) If neither of them has named a suit during the 
bidding, the leader must begin with his best suit. 

These are the three rules or conventions which 
govern the situation, and I desire to lay all possible 
stress upon them, so that the reader may never go 
astray when he is the leader, or be in doubt as to what 
his partner will do if he should be the doubler. 
Eule (3) is very important, because a good many 
people seem to imagine that in a case of this kind it is 
up " to them to lead their weakest suit, and this is to 
confuse the conventions of Auction Bridge with those 
of Bridge proper. In the latter game it was customary 
to lead one's shortest and weakest suit when the 
younger hand doubled no-trumps, it will be remem- 
bered, upon the assumption that he would only do so 
on a great suit ; but this assumption does not hold 
good at Auction Bridge, and consequently the conven- 
tion depending upon it has been entirely swept away. 

When a trump declaration is doubled by the younger 



122 



ADVAXCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



hand the question of the original lead calls for no 
particular discussion. It is not affected by the double, 
except in so far as this may perhaps be allowed to 
hearten up the leader, and encourage him to play a 
somewhat bolder game. 

II. The Declarer's Play. 

The principles upon which the declarer should play 
the twenty-six cards under his control at Auction 
Bridge are fairly simple. His first object must be to 
win the game, whenever this is possible ; and, failing 
this, he must endeavour to fulfil his contract. Rela- 
tively, nothing is of any importance except these two 
cardinal points : contract and game ; though since the 
slams have been raised in value to 50 for the little 
slam and 100 for the big, there is a substantial 
advantage to be gained by winning one, to say nothing 
of the artistic triumph, when circumstances permit. 
But the game is the thing to be thought of in the first 
instance, and it is only when he is perfectly certain of 
securing it that the declarer should begin to trouble 
himself about the possibility of over-tricks. When 
there is a safe road to game it must always be taken, 
and no risks must be run which might involve him in 
falling short of it, even though there be a chance of 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



128 



securing bonuses and a slam, should the cards fall 
luckily. 

Indeed, it is of such vital importance to win the 
game whenever you can that cases frequently arise in 
which it is right to imperil the contract for the sake of 
doing so ; for, except that you thereby escape losing 
penalties, to fulfil a contract which does not take you 
out is of hardly any value at Auction Bridge. Suppose, 
for instance, that, with your score at love, you have 
declared to make " three hearts," and towards the end 
of the hand, when you have won eight tricks, you have 
the option of either making a certainty of your con- 
tract or taking a finesse which, if it comes off, will 
give you the game. In these circumstances, unless 
you have some reason to suppose that the card to be 
finessed against is on the wrong side, you will probably 
be right to take the finesse, because a game is worth 
at the least 125 points, and all you will lose if your 
finesse fails is 50, j:)fes the 24 which you might, had 
you chosen, have scored by taking your three by 
cards. 

It might be different, however, if you had to risk 
going two or three tricks under your contract, for then 
it is quite possible that the finesse would not be worth 
taking. It is simply a matter of calculation, and what 



124 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



the player has to remember is that a first or second 
game of a rubber is worth 125 points, and the thkd and 
final game, when three are played, 250. This very im- 
portant fact must never be lost sight of, because it 
exercises an enormous influence, or should do, upon the 
tactics of the game, in regard to both the play of the 
cards and the bidding as well. 

In the third game of a rubber practically all risks 
must be taken to get out, when you hold cards upon 
which getting out is a possibility. You can finesse 
down to your boots, if necessary, and need not trouble 
about the contract at all, because it is a matter of com- 
paratively small account. But it is only when each 
side has won a game that this sort of plunging is justifi- 
able ; because, as I have indicated, the earlier games 
of the rubber, though it is certainly desirable to win 
them, are only worth half as much as the third and 
last. 

This is such a very vital point in the theory of 
Auction Bridge, that it is to be hoped the reader has 
grasped it thoroughly in all its bearings, and will keep 
it steadily before his mind whenever the question of 
going for the game or for the contract arises. If he has 
lost the first game of the rubber, and is playing the 
second, it is true that upon this second game his sole 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



125 



chance of winning the rubber depends. But it is, 
nevertheless, worth only 125 points to him, for if he 
wins it he will still be only half-way towards the desired 
goal, and the rubber may ultimately be won by his op- 
ponents. And so he would not be justified in taking 
any exceptional and extravagant risks to pull it off. 
(This is the aspect of the matter which nearly everyone 
overlooks.) 

And, similarly, if he has won the first game, though 
winning the second will clinch matters, and give him 
the whole 250 points dependent upon the rubber's re- 
sult, it is nevertheless worth exactly 125 points to him 
and no more ; for it is quite possible for him to lose 
this game and win the rubber notwithstanding, as one 
frequently does. So this is again a case in which there 
is no occasion to make a desperate assault upon the 
enemy's position, to launch forlorn hopes, or anything 
of that kind. The exigencies of the occasion do not 
demand heroic methods, and the declarer should certainly 
not risk more in the way of penalties than the game is 
worth, i.e., 125 points. 

But in the third and last game of the rubber, when, 
from each side winning a game in turn, a deciding one 
has to be played, the whole 250 points being at stake on 
this particuler gmie, exceptional risks may, as I have 



126 



ADVANCED AUCTION BBIDGE 



said, ba taken ; and when any reasonable chance pre- 
sents itself by means of which the declarer can by any 
possibility get to his points, that chance must be seized 
upon. He would be quite justified in taking a finesse, 
for instance, the failure of which might put him three 
or four tricks under his contract, as sometimes happens 
in a no-trump hand, when an opponent is let in with 
an established suit. 

When, however, there is no chance of winning the 
game, the contract is the next thing to be thought of, 
and if it be seen that that cannot be fulfilled, the only 
thing to do is to cut your loss as fine as possible. It is 
no use going for ridiculous finesses, or playing for com- 
binations of the cards which would not occur once in a 
hundred times, but you should just calculate how near 
you can hope, with a reasonable degree of luck, to get 
to your contract, and play accordingly. If you have 
not been doubled the position is probably not a serious 
one ; but if you have — well, you must just set your 
teeth and make every trick you can. There is often 
the consolation that your opponents may have given up 
a certainty of the game to double your bid, and thus 
you may ultimately be a gainer in spite of the penalties 
in which you are unfortunately mulcted. 

What I mean is that it is of no use to attempt the 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



127 



impossible. Certainly it is a great niistake to funk 
any fair finesse, which, if it comes off, will land you at 
your desired goal ; but, on the other hand, when you 
have a certainty of making seven or eight tricks upon a 
nine-tricks contract, it is a pity to jeopardise any of 
these. For if, in these circumstances, your finesse goes 
wrong, you will probably have converted what would 
have only been a defeat into a rout. 

So much for the goal to be aimed at ; and now let us 
consider what is the best means of attaining it. 

The declarer is a law unto himself, and need not 
bother about the various conventions and rules of play 
by which his opponents are fettered. He can play just 
as many false cards as he pleases, and the only hint 
I will presume to offer is that he should not play so 
many as to confuse himself, as I have sometimes known 
a very unorthodox player do. 

And there are just one or two points which it is well 
to bear in mind. In the first place, the declarer should 
endeavour to remember all his opponents' bids, and 
the sequence in which they were made, because this 
will help him considerably in the play of the hand. It 
will enable him to distinguish between leads from 
strength and leads from weakness, which is in itself 
very important, and, to a certain extent, to locate the 



128 ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



high cards which are against him in the different suits, 
which may be of gteat help to him in his finesses. 

Andj moreover, valuable inferences can sometimes 
be drawn from the fact that certain suits have not been 
named in the bidding. If, for instance, a declaration 
of ''one no-trump" is left in by your opponents, and 
particularly if you are in the third game of the rubber, 
the probability is that neither of them has five hearts or 
five spades. There is no certainty about the matter, 
of course, but in the majority of cases you will find 
that they have not, if you take the trouble to analyse 
the hand afterwards. 

And if, as the game is now played, the dealer has 
opened the bidding with a pass, it may be inferred that 
he has a poorish hand, which is devoid of pronounced 
strength in any suit. So that, other things being equal, 
his will be the hand to finesse up to, and his partner's 
the hand to finesse against, while a high, pre-emptive 
bid by an opponent, such as three hearts," generally 
means that there is a weak spot in his hand, one suit 
being wholly unprotected. 

Again, when each of your opponents has named a 
suit during the bidding, and you have overcalled them 
with a trump declaration, if the eldest hand leads 
neither his own suit nor his partner's, but the remain- 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



129 



ing plain suit, the probability is that his card is a single- 
ton, and that he is playing for a ruff. And so your 
counter move must be to get out trumps as speedily 
as possible, after which you can finesse boldly in the 
suit first led against the leader's partner. 

•X- -x- ^ 

I will now add some hints of a more detailed char- 
acter as to — 

(i) The Declarer's Play at No-Trumps. 

When no-trumps has been declared the declarer 
should pay the strictest attention to his opponents' 
original lead, for this is the suit in which they announce 
their intention of attacking him, and in all probability 
they will persist with it. The commonest form of 
opening is for the leader to start with the suit which 
his partner has declared during the bidding ; and this 
is a case which presents no sort of difficulty, all the 
declarer has to remember being that the principal 
strength in this suit is on his right — -not with its 
original leader. 

But, of course, there will be a great many cases in 
which the leader prefers to open with his own strong 
suit, and then different considerations apply. If an 

9 



130 



ADVANCED AUCTION BBIDGE 



honour is led, it is evidently from one of the combina- 
tions of high cards with which every experienced 
player is familiar and the declarer must make a mental 
note of the other honour or honours that are likely to 
remain behind it. If a small card, this, it may be taken 
for granted, is the leader's fourth-best. 

Now, when a fourth-best card is led the declarer 
should at once apply the Eleven Eule to it — that is to 
say, he should subtract the number of pips on the card 
led from eleven, which will give him the number of 
cards higher than the card led which are against the 
leader — i.e., in the three remaining hands. The ad- 
vantage of applying this rule, which is quite the most im- 
portant piece of bookwork connected with the game, 
is that it will sometimes enable one to place the entire 
suit, and even though it may not make matters quite so 
easy as that, it will still be a great aid to finessing. 
Also from the distance of the card led from the bottom 
of the suit the declarer will be able to form an idea of 
the leader's length in it, which will help him to estimate 
the consequences of its establishment. 

But before the declarer plays at all to the first trick 
he should take a good look at his own hand and dummy's, 
make up his mind upon which side it will be more ad- 
vantageous for him to win it, if he can, and, if possible,. 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



131 



form his plan of campaign for the entire hand. The 
importance of doing this at once — that is to say, before 
you have compromised matters by playing a card from 
the exposed hand — cannot be over-estimated, for times 
without number the whole hand is botched by an initial 
blunder, such as parting with a card of entry which is 
wanted later to bring in a suit, etc. 

Some hands, it is true, are more or less of a scramble 
from start to finish, but in others the declarer can see 
his way to the end of the hand pretty well from the 
first trick, and these often present a problem which 
must be solved at this stage or not at all. Now, it is 
always a pity to miss a chance of distinguishing your- 
self by a clever piece of play for want of a few seconds' 
thought, and, moreover, a little delay at the beginning 
of a hand will often enable one to play it much quicker 
in its later stage. Have a good look all round before you 
commit yourself, therefore, is the advice which I should 
tender to the player of the double hand; and then, 
having made up your mind what line to follow, try to 
keep a good pace. It is only fair to your opponents to 
avoid keeping them waiting between each card, as some 
weak players do, but they will not grudge you a few 
moments' consideration when you are having your first 
look at dummy. 

9* 



132 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



If you have only one master card in the adversaries* 
suit — the ace, for instance — it is generally right to hold 
it up until the younger hand is exhausted, for by so 
doing you prevent the leader making his established 
cards unless he has a card of entry in another suit. 
Or if a king is led, and you hold ace, knave, and another, 
it is worth while to play the Bath coup — that is to say, 
pass the first trick — for if the leader goes on with his 
suit you will win the second and third rounds, and in 
all probability completely block it ; whereas, if you had 
won the first round with the ace, and then had the mis- 
fortune to let your right-hand adversar}^ in, your knave 
might have been led through with disastrous effect. 
And for the same reason it is often well to pass the first 
round with ace, king, and another, for then, if the 
younger hand has only two cards of the leader's suit, 
the latter will require two cards of entry to bring it in. 

This plan of playing back in the suit led originally 
is so exceedingly useful when there are no trumps that 
it should generally be acted upon. It is nearly always 
the right thing to do unless you can see your way to 
a slam, or there is a danger that the adversaries will 
branch to another suit in which you have still less 
protection. In the latter case the only thing to be 
done is to take the lead at once, and go into your 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



133 



longest and strongest suit. This is theoretically the 
proper game to play : to block the opponents' long 
suit and establish your own. No other tactics are 
possible at no-trumps, except the very primitive ones 
of playing out all your winning cards at once, and 
trusting to providence to look after the rest — a plan 
which must only be resorted to when there is a big 
established suit against you, and it becomes necessary 
to cut your loss by getting as near to your contract as 
you can. 

It does not always follow, however, that the declarer's 
strongest suit is the best one to clear. If he has ace, 
king to five clubs, for instance, and queen, knave, 10 
to five diamonds, it is better to clear diamonds than 
clubs, because he will make two tricks in clubs in any 
case, and three more in diamonds if he clears the suit ; 
whereas, if he cleared clubs he would make four tricks 
at the outside in clubs, and none, probably, in diamonds. 
The suit to be cleared is the one which will yield the 
greatest number of tricks by establishment, provided 
that it will not take too many leads to clear it. 

i^nd, other things being equal, it is as well to go for 
the suit in which you hold the greatest number of 
cards in both hands combined, for the fewer cards 
there are against you the more likely are they to fall. 



134 



ABYANCEI) AUCTION EHIDG-E 



Bat no little judgment is required in selecting the best 
suit to clear, and considerations of finessing have a 
great deal to do with it. When one of your adversaries 
has some established cards to bring in, I mean, you 
will, of course, finesse against him as much as possible, 
for this makes it difficult for him to obtain the lead 
unless he has an ace or other certain card of entry. 

And I may add that when you have made up your 
mind to clear a particular suit, it will generally pay 
you best to go on and clear it in preference to attempt- 
ing to clear a fresh one. Changing suits is to be 
avoided unless you are pretty strong all round and hold 
one suit which is ready-established, in which case you 
can try for one or two of your more doubtful tricks first. 
If your strong suit is hidden from the adversaries they 
will often hold up their high cards in your weaker ones, 
and so help you to win the very trick or tricks you 
want for game, perhaps. I have even had a slam pre- 
sented to me in this way, which I certainly should 
never have made if I had not concealed my strength at 
the start. 

Generally the declarer sees a certain number of 
tricks, which any child could make, staring him in the 
face, and the first question he has to decide is whether 
he must take these and be thankful, or whether he can 



THE PLAT OF THE HAND 



135 



try for something more. I have laid down the guiding 
principles upon which this question is to be answered, 
and the reader must endeavour to apply them for 
himself. If he decides to go for more tricks than he 
actually has in sight, the next question is, How is he 
to make them? Are there any small cards that he 
can hope to make by establishing a long suit, or must 
he do what he can by judicious finessing ? Probably 
a combination of both methods is the proper treatment 
to apply ; but if taking a particular finesse militates 
against the establishment of a long suit instead of 
helping it, it is not worth playing for, as will be seen 
from some of the hands in Part III. 

And when there is a choice of two or more finesses, 
it is important to go for the one which, if successful, 
will mean the gain of an additional trick. With a 
suit of medium length, headed by ace, queen, knave, for 
instance, there is little point in finessing against the 
king unless you can put the lead through twice, but 
with a suit of equal length headed by ace, king, knave, 
a successful finesse against the queen will probably 
result in this card being dropped in the second or third 
round. 

The above, it will be seen, are all very simple points 
of play, but they are sometimes overlooked by players 



ii 



136 ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



who ought to know better, so perhaps the reader will 
not take it amiss that I have called his attention to them. 

(ii) The Declarer s Play when there is a Trump. 

The declarer's tactics at the trump game are also 
fairly simple, but there are one or two pitfalls to be 
avoided. As it is not usual to declare any suit — • 
except, possibly, clubs — of which one does not hold 
at least four cards, it follows that in the majority of 
cases the declarer has a longer suit of trumps than 
either of his opponents, and probably more in the two 
hands than they hold between them. Now, assuming 
this to be the case, it will generally pay him to lead 
trumps at the earliest possible opportunity, and to 
keep on leading them every time he has a chance of 
doing so until he has completely disarmed his op- 
ponents, after which he should endeavour to bring in 
his strongest plain suit. These are, as a rule, the 
best tactics to employ, and although there are excep- 
tional cases in which trumps ought not to be led at 
once, or perhaps not at all, I cannot impress it too 
strongly upon the reader that it is his duty to draw 
the opponents' trumps at the outset of the game, and 
to make his winning cards afterwards. You often hear 
a player who ought to know better say : Oh, it was 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



137 



not worth my while to draw^ trumps, as I had no suit 
to bring in ; " but this is quite a misconception. By 
not leading your trumps you give the opponents a 
chance of making all theirs separately, and perhaps 
over-ruffing you into the bargain, which is about the 
worst disaster that can befall you. 

Pitfall No. 1, then, is not getting out trumps soon 
enough, and is responsible for the loss of more tricks 
than any other mistake of which the inexperienced 
Auction-player is guilty. Pitfall No. 2 is the opposite 
error of going into trumps too soon, which, although 
less serious, must also be avoided. It is, as 1 have 
stated, generally a good thing to draw the opponents' 
trumps as quickly as you can ; but before doing so it 
may be advisable to give your weaker hand a ruff — 
your strong one can ruff as well after trumps are 
drawn as before — or to get rid of a losing card on one 
of his winning ones. When you can do either of these 
things without much danger of being ruffed, you are 
justified in making the attempt, provided that the extra 
trick which you will gain in this way is needed for 
game. If it is not, it will probably be better to take no 
risks, but clear trumps at once. 

Again, it will sometimes happen that the declarer is 
not very strong in plain suits, but has a chance of 



138 ADVANCED AUCTION BBIDGE 



ruffing two or three times in both hands. When this 
is so, he should abandon the offensive trump game for 
the double ruff, which is pretty sure to pay him better 
if he has no suit to bring in. With very strong plain 
cards, however, the declarer has everything to lose 
and nothing to gain by adopting this mode of attack. 
And he must always be on his guard against being 
ruffed by the opponents. By applying the familiar 
Eleven Eule to the card led originally he will generally 
be able to tell whether his left-hand opponent is 
playing for a ruff, or to establish his best suit. If he 
suspects the former manoeuvre he should take no 
finesse, but should get out trumps as quickly as he 
can, and, in the process of doing so, keep the lead 
away from his right-hand opponent as much as he 
can. If he cannot prevent the leader ruffing alto- 
gether, he may at all events prevent him ruffing more 
than once. 

The scientific Auction-player is naturally as much 
concerned to frustrate his opponent's plans as to carry 
out his own, and consequently he must always keep 
an eye upon the other side, and see what goal they 
are making for. Being ruffed is the chief thing he has 
to fear, while the establishment of a plain suit against 
him is, though of rarer occurrence, a still greater 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



139 



disaster. To guard against being rufted, the lead 
must, as I have said, be kept away from the player 
who can give the ruff, and it may even be desirable to 
play out a suit of trumps headed by the ace and queen 
without finessing, so as to disarm the enemy as quickly 
as possible. To prevent the establishment o£ a long 
suit, on the other hand, it may be necessary to refrain 
from drawing the last trump, so that one may be able 
to trump in at a point of the game when the player 
who holds the long cards cannot get the lead back 
into his hand again. This is a simple, stereotyped 
manoeuvre which every one who plays Auction Bridge 
should be prepared to employ when a proper occasion 
arises. If the player who holds the established suit 
also holds the losing trump there is nothing to be 
gained by not drawing it ; but if it is with his partner, 
and the first-mentioned player has no card of entry 
outside his long suit, it is better to keep your last 
trump, although it may be a winning one, for ruffing. 

The declarer must keep a careful look out, and 
observe all the indications afforded by his opponents' 
play. If, when a strong suit is opened, the player on 
his right does not call for a ruff, he may be confident 
that the suit will go round a third time, and, con- 
sequently, if he holds the best card in, and there are 



140 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



no more of the suit in dummy, he will be able to 
discard a loser upon it with perfect safety. 

Again, he must w^atch the opponents' discards with 
the utmost care. Generally they will throw away from 
their weakest suits first, but he must be on the look 
out for calls. Sometimes a ruse player will make a 
false discard expressly to mislead the declarer, and 
the possibility of this trick being played upon one 
must be taken into account ; but it is such a serious 
thing to mislead one's partner that in the majority of 
cases the opponents' discards may be relied upon. 
False-carding, however, forms an important part of the 
game, and although a frequent indulgence in this 
dangerous expedient is not recommended one must 
not be too readily deceived by it. 

Sometimes it is very difficult to understand an op- 
ponent's game, and one is led to suppose that he 
must be playing badly. Now, generally speaking, it 
is a mistake to act on this assumption. You should 
try and discover a reason for any tactics he adopts, 
however puzzling they may be, and if there is only one 
rational explanation of his play you may be pretty sure 
that that explanation is the right one. If you cannot 
understand his drift, it is more likely to be you than 
he that are at fault. 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



141 



And, to conclude my remarks upon this subject, I 
must remind the reader that whenever possible he 
should count his opponents' hands. He should try to 
place the last four or five cards in every game he plays 
—that is to say, place them exactly, pip for pip, and 
not in the hazy, uncertain way that one is inclined to. 
If you can do this properly you will find it absurdly 
easy, in nine hands out of ten, to play the last few 
tricks correctly, and now and then, perhaps, a little 
thought may enable you to electrify your friends by 
bringing off a coup that is really far less daring than it 
seems. 

III. How TO Play when Second-in-Hand. 

There is nothing harder in the game than the play 
of the second-in-hand, particularly when the policy of 
covering an honour is in question, but I intend to treat 
the subject from an elementary point of view, and 
shall merely try to lay down some useful general rules, 
ignoring exceptional cases. 

When a small card of a fresh suit is led through you 
from the exposed band, it is generally correct to let 
the trick run up to your partner in the hope that he 
may be able to beat anything that the declarer puts 
on. With certain combinations of high cards, however, 



142 



ADVANCED ALXTIOX BEIDGE 



you are justified in making a bid for the trick. With 
ace and king, for instance, you should put on the 
king, with king and queen^ the queen, and with 
queen, kDave. 10, etc., the lowest of your sequence. 
This is the recognised play when there is a trump, 
while if there is any reason to suspect that there is a 
singleton in the concealed hand, it may be advisable 
to put on the ace, if you hold it. At no-trumps, on 
the other hand, if you have only two honours it will 
probably be better to pass the trick altogether, for the 
longer you retain your high cards in an adversary's 
suit the more difficult you make its establishment. In 
doubtful cases a little judgment must be called into 
play, and aided by a careful study of the exposed hand, 
but from the combinations I have named an honour 
must be put on whenever you are in a position 
analogous to that of the second player at Whist — that 
is to say, when a trump has been declared, and you do 
not know exactly what the third and fourth players 
may hold. 

Again, when an honour is led you will, of course, 
always cover it if you hold either two honours of 
higher value or what is called a fourchette " — that is 
to say, the two cards next in sequence to the card led, 
the one being above, and the other below it ; and, in 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



143 



fact, if you hold any two honours, one of which is 
higher, and the other lower, than the card led, you 
should nearly always cover with the higher one, for 
this raises the value of your second honour — giving it 
a lift in the table of precedence, as it were — if your 
first is captured, which can only be at the cost of two 
honours to the other side. Practically the only case 
in which you ought not to cover, in these circum- 
stances, is when you know that the adversary must be 
in such mortal terror of a suit you have established 
against him, that he dare not finesse. 

When you hold only one honour in a suit, however, 
and a lower honour is led through you, the question of 
covering or not covering is not so easy. Its answer 
must depend a great deal upon your length in suit, 
and upon whether you think it is the intention of the 
adversary to finesse or not. If it is a no-trump hand 
you must remember that he will finesse more deeply 
than he would if a trump had been declared, and that 
you, as well as he, can afford to play a more backward 
game. To take a simple case, let us suppose that 
there is a suit of five cards to the ace, knave, 10 on 
the table, and that the declarer leads the queen 
through his left-hand opponent's guarded king. If he 
has only a single guard to it he must always cover, as 



144 ADVANCED AUCTION BKIDGE 



the declarer obviously intends to finesse, and the king 
must fall to the ace on the second round. If he has 
two guards to the king he had better not cover, as if 
his partner holds four of the suit the declarer cannot 
lead through a second time. If he has three guards 
to the king his partner cannot hold more than three 
of the suit, and he ought not to cover unless his 
second-best card is the 9. 

There used to be a popular idea — dating back to the 
days when I played Whist — that it is always right to 
cover an honour with an honour, but this, I need hardly 
say, is quite an erroneous opinion. The player who 
always covers makes the game easy for his opponents, 
for he saves them all anxiety as to their finesses. It 
is a great help to the declarer, for instance, to know 
that the second player will always cover a queen led 
if he can, for should he play a small one the position 
of the king is at once apparent. There are occasions 
when you ought, and occasions when you ought not, 
to cover with a single honour, and you must not act 
upon any such rough and ready rule as the above. 

It is, unfortunately, impossible to lay down any 
general rule as to covering which will fit all cases, but 
I will deal with a few typical phases of the problem, 
which may possibly be helpful to the reader. What 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



145 



the second player has to consider when led through 
by the declarer, is the probable effect of covering on 
his partner's hand. If he forces a higher honour than 
his own from the enemy, is this likely to help his 
partner to an extra trick, or had he better let the 
declarer finesse, if so minded? Before determining 
whether to cover or not, he must answer this question 
in his own mind, if possible, and play accordingly. 

The following is an instance of what I mean : Dummy, 
holding knave and two small ones of an untouched suit, 
leads the knave, and you are second player with the 
king and two small ones. Suppose the declarer holds 
ace, 10 to 4 of the suit, and your partner the queen, 9 
and another. If you cover the knave with the king, the 
declarer must win with the ace, and your partner is 
thus left with a fourchette over the 10. If, on the 
other hand, you pass, the declarer will probably allow 
the knave to be taken by your partner's queen, and 
keep the fourchette over your king. If, therefore, the 
cards lie as I have supposed them to lie, you will make 
two tricks in the suit by covering and only one by 
passing. Now let us consider the other possibilities. 
If the declarer holds ace, queen, 10, it obviously does 
not matter whether you cover or not. If he holds ace, 
queen, etc., and your partner the 10, there is the gain 

10 



146 ADVANCED AUCTION BBIDGE 



of a trick by covering if the 10 is twice guarded. If 
the declarer holds ace, 10, 9, etc., you will not lose any- 
thing by covering, unless your partner holds the queen 
single, or unless dummy has no card of entry and could 
not have been put in to lead through you again. On 
the whole, therefore, it is easy to see that it is to your 
advantage to cover dummy's card. 

Next let us suppose that dummy leads from knave, 
10, and another, instead of from knave and two small 
ones, that the declarer holds ace and three small ones, 
and your partner queen, 9, and another, as before. 
If, now, the knave is led, and you cover with the king, 
the declarer will win with the ace, and by leading 
through your partner's queen, must make the 10 on 
either the second or third round. If, on the other 
hand, you pass the first trick, your partner will win it 
with his queen, and no matter from which side the 
lead next comes, you are bound to win a second trick 
in the suit. In this case, therefore, there is a distinct 
danger of losing a trick by covering. Now, let us 
consider the remaining possibilities, as before. If the 
declarer holds ace, queen, etc., it obviously does not 
matter whether you cover or not. If he holds ace, 9, 
etc., you will gain a trick by not covering, if your 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



147 



partner holds the queen single, or if dummy has no 
card of entry and cannot be put in to lead through you 
again; here, therefore, it is evident that you have 
everything to gain and nothing to lose by passing the 
first trick. 

Cases analogous to those which I have elaborated 
above will readily occur to the reader, and the principle 
to be deduced from them is that it is usualli/ right to 
cover an honour led from the exposed hand, unless it is 
supported by a second honour in sequence with it, but 
that in the latter case one should play small. I say 

usually," because circumstances alter cases, and the 
rule does not always apply. A good deal depends upon 
the player's length in suit, as I have already explained, 
and the probable number of cards that his partner holds. 
A singly-guarded honour must be put on at once, or it 
may be drawn with a small card in the second round, 
and with four in suit there is generally more hope of 
making a trick oneself than of strengthening one's 
partner. As a guiding principle, however, this rule, for 
which I should add that I am indebted to a very clever 
article by the late Mr. W. H. Whitfeld, which appeared 
some years ago in The Field, is well worth remember- 
ing. 



10* 



148 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



IV. Counting the Cards. 

I wonder if there is any Auction Bridge -player in 
the world who habitually counts all four suits, so as to 
know exactly how many cards of each are out against 
him at every stage of the game. Personally, I should 
very much doubt it, although I can quite see that one 
ought to be able to do so. Indeed, it is not necessary 
to count all the suits, because if you are able to count 
three a simple subtraction sum will give you your key to 
the fourth. For instance, suppose that there are four 
tricks to be played to complete the hand, and that, 
having counted hearts, diamonds, and clubs, you know 
there are six of the first, five of the second, and three 
of the third left in, including the cards in your own 
hand. This accounts for fourteen out of the sixteen 
cards which remain unplayed, and consequently you 
do not need the acuteness of Sherlock Holmes to per- 
ceive that the other two must be spades. 

Or another way of counting the suits — and, though 
I do not employ it myself, I am told by some people it 
is a better one — is to exclude the cards in your own 
hand and dummy entirely from your reckoning. These, 
being always in sight, you need not bother about, and 
instead of counting the whole of each suit as the cards 
come out, which is the ordinary method, you only count 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



149 



those cards which are played frora the concealed hands. 
This answers your purpose equally well, provided you 
have been careful to note, at the beginning of the 
hand, exactly how many of each suit they hold between 
them. 

Thus, to take a simple case, if, upon running through 
your cards before play begins, and counting them up, 
as you should always do, you find that you hold one 
heart and four in each of the remaining suits, and, when 
dummy's hand goes down, you observe that he has four 
hearts and three in each of the remaining suits, you 
make a mental note of the fact that the twenty-six cards 
held by the two other players consist of eight hearts, 
six diamonds, six clubs, and six spades. And so, instead 
of having to count up to thirteen in each suit, which, it 
must be confessed, is rather a laborious business, all 
you have to do is to count up to six in three suits 
and to eight in the fourth. It certainly sounds easier, 
but whether it is so or not I should not like to say. 

All I know is that the counting of the total number 
of cards played in every suit proves too hard a task for 
most people, and, speaking for myself, I am bound to 
own that I am one of the weaker brothers who find it 
beyond them. My card memory is fairly good, and 
sOj without going through any conscious process of 



150 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



arithmetic, I can generally remember pretty well what 
cards have been played in trumps and my own strong 
suit. Indeed, I usually know all I need to know about 
any suit which is developed early in the hand either by 
myself or by anyone else ; but, at the same time, I find 
it very hard now and then to keep a mental record of 
all the discards. 

And so, when a suit is not led until quite late in the 
hand, I am frequently very much at sea as to how 
many cards are left of it. Of course one ought not to 
be, but I think, nevertheless, that this is a difficulty 
which most people experience, more or less. It is not 
so much that you cannot remember the cards which 
have been thrown away in discarding to other suits, 
as that you have failed to pay sufficient attention to 
them, the fact being that we are all far less careful in 
this respect than we ought to be. 

For the joy of getting in with an established suit, 
when there are no trumps to check it, is, I find, very 
demoralising. It makes you forget that there are other 
things to think of besides playing out your winners one 
after another, and that when they come to an end it 
will be just as well to know what you ought to lead 
next. This is where the careful player scores, because 
he is not simply content with making the tricks which 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



151 



he cannot help making, but, by a close attention to the 
discards, he is probably able to push his advantage 
right home. 

When you are leading out a series of established 
hearts, for instance, you should note exactly how many 
diamonds, clubs, and spades are thrown away upon 
them, and, of course, it is important to observe by which 
hands they are thrown. And, at the same time, you 
must be on the look-out for calls, so the task of follow- 
ing the discards properly is by no means an easy one. 
But when it is effectually performed the information 
gained is sometimes most illuminating ; and when you 
are playing against dummy it is well to remember that 
your opponent's discards are quite as important as your 
partner's. If, for instance, the declarer throws away 
several cards of the same suit, it will generally be right 
to lead it, no matter what your partner's discards may 
have been ; while if, on the other hand, you see that he 
is carefully hoarding up a certain suit, this is probably 
the one in which he is strongest, and to lead up to him 
in it would be fatal. 

But merely to know how many cards of the different 
suits are out against you, as you approach the end of 
the hand, is of enormous use, for if you have followed 
the game propefly, and remember what cards are 



■I 



152 ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 

marked in the concealed hands, it will often help you 
to know whether they are guarded or not. Suppose, 
for example, that you hold the ace and queen of a suit, 
and one of your opponents the king. If you have 
counted the hand properly, and drawn all available 
inferences from the fall of the cards, you may be able 
to tell that he has no guard to it, in which case you 
have only to lead out your ace to bring it down. Or, 
on the other hand, you may know that he has king 
and one other, in which case, if you are able to force 
him to take the lead at the eleventh trick he will have 
to come up to your tenace. It is astonishing how easy 
this sort of thing becomes to a player who has counted 
the cards. 

V. FoEciNG A Discard. 

The following is the record of a rather curious 
hand, in which I was able to win the game through 
the time-honoured expedient of putting my opponent 
to a discard. 

The declaration was " four clubs," my partner having 
overcalled my initial bid of ''three clubs" with ''two 
no-trumps," which I did not think it safe to leave hirn 
in with. The hands were'as follows : — 



o 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



153 



Dummy's Hand. 

Hearts, K J x x 

Diamonds, J x x / 

Clubs, A X 

Spades, K Q J x 

My Own Hand. 

Hearts, x x 

Diamonds, K 

Clubs, KJ1098XXX 

Spades, x x 

My goal, therefore, was to make four by cards, and 
thereby fulfil my contract, while if by any chance I 
could make five by cards and win the game, so much 
the better. 

The first lead was a small diamond, upon which 
dummy, of course, played a small one, and my right- 
hand opponent played the ace, catching my king. He 
returned a small diamond, showing conclusively that 
his partner held the queen. Now what was I to do ? 
If I discarded one of my hearts I should establish 
dummy's knave of diamonds, but as it was very unlikely 
I should be given the chance of discarding a second 
heart upon it^ this would do me no good. At the worst 
I could only lose two tricks in hearts, and losing one in 
hearts and one in dianionds would corae to the same 



154 ADVANCED AUCTION BKIDGE 



thing. So, having plenty of trumps, I ruffed the second 
trick. 

And now came the question of my next lead. If I 
took out the adverse trumps at once, and then branched 
to spades, the ace might be held up against me, in 
which case I should get no chance of discarding a 
heart, and if the finesse in the latter suit proved un- 
successful, I must lose my contract. So, without dis- 
closing my strength in trumps, I led a spade. The 
second player put on a small card, dummy played the 
knave, and the fourth hand won with the ace. This 
made two tricks to the opposition and only one to me, 
so far ; but^ as it turned out, I made all the rest, and 
won the game, which was a somewhat remarkable re- 
sult with three aces against me. 

Let me explain how this happened. My right-hand 
opponent, in addition to the two aces he had already 
played, held the ace of hearts, and had he led this card, 
or a spade, or a diamond, he would have allowed me to 
fulfil my contract, certainly, but must inevitably have 
saved the game. Instead of adopting any of these 
courses, however, he led a trump — the only one he had 
— and this gave me just the opportunity I was desiring, 
for it enabled me to lead out all my trumps and force 
discards from his partner with disastrous effect. 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



156 



Of the five spades left in against me, I must explain, 
three were with the player on my left, and only two 
with the player on my right. This fact was soon dis- 
closed, because, on my second and third leads of trumps, 
the latter, who could do nothing right in this particular 
hand, threw away his two spades, which fairly marked 
his partner with the other three. And so, by playing 
out every trump I had, I was able to compel the elder 
hand either to unguard his spades or throw away the 
queen of diamonds at the tenth trick. If he unguarded 
spades I could make dummy's king, queen, and small 
one, which I would keep as my last three cards, and if 
he discarded the queen of diamonds I would keep the 
knave and the two honours in spades. From this 
dilemma there was no escape for him, and so I made 
all the remaining tricks. I have seldom seen a hand 
go more luckily. 

VI. Some Card Chances. 

Every one who plays Auction Bridge ought to know 
something of the theory of probabilities as applied to 
the game. It is not necessary to be a mathematician, 
and to be able to calculate out the chances of this or 
that distribution of the cards to four places of decimals ; 
but we ought all to have some idea as to the likelihood 



156 ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



of our finesses succeeding or failing, for without this 
knowledge we cannot tell whether to finesse or not, and 
are necessarily at a disadvantage in the play of the 
cards. 

The following are some simple cases in which a con- 
sideration of card chances is important in determining 
the correct play : — 

When the declarer holds, in his own hand and 
dummy's, nine cards of a suit including all the Bridge 
honours except the queen, it becomes a question whether 
he should finesse with the knave or 10, or lead out ace 
and king in the hope that the queen will fall. Generally 
speaking, the latter course is the more likely to prove 
successful, for while it is even betting whether the ad- 
verse honour lies to the right or left, it is a shade of 
odds against its being doubly guarded in either hand. 
Most people who have had much experience at Auction 
Bridge are aware of this, but what they do not always 
remember is that if three or four cards are marked 
in one adversary's hand, while the other's is entirely 
unknown, the chances are considerably affected by this 
fact. When this is so, it is odds on the queen — or 
whatever the card may be which we wish, if we can, to 
catch — lying with the player whose hand contains the 
greater number of unknowu cards, and, other things 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



157 



being equal, it is right to finesse against him. It fre- 
quently happens, however, that whereas the one hand 
is niarked with the long cards of an established suit, 
the other has no card to put him in with, and in these 
circumstances one must ignore the probabilities and 
finesse against the hand in which the danger lies ; or, 
if that is impracticable, play for the drop." It does 
not do to be too great a slave to the doctrine of chances. 

Again, suppose that the declarer holds in the two 
hands ten cards of a suit headed by the ace, queen, 
knave, etc., the king being the only high card against 
him. With this combination some players appear to 
think that there is as good a chance of catching the 
king by putting on the ace first round as by finessing ; 
but this is entirely wrong. If a small card is led up 
to the hand containing ace and queen, and the second 
player follows with a small one, it is approximately an 
even-money chance that the king lies to the right, but 
it is 3 to 1 against its being caught unguarded on the 
left. Hence the more advantageous way of playing the 
suit is to take the finesse. We are speaking of the no- 
trump game, of course, because with a suit declaration 
there would be too much danger of a ruff for the finesse 
to be thought of, unless all the trumps were out. 

The reason why it is 3 to 1 against dropping the 



158 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



king by putting on the ace first round may be explained 
as follows : As soon as the second-in-hand has followed, 
there remain only two cards of the suit to be accounted 
for, the king and a small one. Now it is approximately 
even betting whether either of these lies to the right or 
left, but for the third player to clear his suit without 
finessing he must find the king to his left and the small 
one to his right. He is thus in the position of a man 
who makes an accumulating bet on two horses, each of 
which stands in the betting at evens, when, as every one 
who goes racing knows, the proper odds against the 
double event are 3 to 1. For it to be an even chance 
whether the king falls or not it must be the only one 
left in — that is to say, the declarer and his partner must 
hold eleven cards of the suit between them. 

The declarer's expectation of bringing off a simple 
finesse has been described as approximately an even 
chance, because it is not, as a matter of fact, exactly so. 
When the second-in-hand has played to the trick his 
remaining cards are fewer by one than his partner's, 
and thus, assuming that no cards are marked in cither's 
hand, it is always a shade of odds against the finesse 
succeeding. This disparity between the chances is very 
slight at the beginning of a hand, and may be ignored ; 
but in the last few tricks it is often sufl&cient to make a 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



159 



finesse in the highest degree inadvisable. To take an 
extreme case, let us suppose that dummy's last two 
cards in a no-trump hand are the 3 and 2 of hearts, the 
declarer's the knave and 9, and that the 10 and 8 of 
hearts and the two last clubs are divided between the 
two adversaries, but there is no indication as to their 
distribution. Dummy leads the 3 of hearts, and the 
declarer's right-hand adversary puts on the 8. Now 
everything depends on his last card. If it is the re- 
maining heart the declarer can win the last two tricks 
by finessing, and if it is a club he can do so by putting 
on the knave. But as there are two clubs and only one 
heart left in, it is obviously 2 to 1 in favour of its being 
a club, and thus the declarer's best chance is to refuse 
the finesse. This he should accordingly do, quite apart 
from the score, and from the fact that in this way he 
makes certain of the twelfth trick, which is sometimes 
an important consideration. If there were three hearts 
left in against the declarer and only one club, whichever 
way he played the odds would be 2 to 1 against his 
winning both tricks (after the second-in-hand had 
followed suit with a small heart). 

And, lastly, let us take an instance which affects the 
play of one of the non-declarers. Suppose that your 
partner's opening lead at no-trumps is the 7 of clubs, ol 



160 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



which suit you hold the queen, 9, 4, and dummy the 
knave, 3, 2. If dummy puts on a small one, ought 
you to play the queen or finesse the 9 ? It is a well- 
established maxim of Auction Bridge and other games 
in which one of the hands is exposed, that you must 
never finesse against your partner, but this, neverthe- 
less, hardly concludes the question, because when there 
is a card upon the table which you are endeavouring to 
defeat by playing a lower card than your best you can- 
not be said to be finessing against your partner alone. 
And, maxim or no maxim, you have to take the best 
chance of helping him to clear his suit. 

The position is not an easy one, because if you put 
on your queen and the ace or king comes upon the top 
of it, the knave will be good for a trick later, and in all 
probability your partner's suit will never be cleared. 

If, however, you finesse the 9 and the declarer wins 
the trick with the 10, you will certainly hear about it 
at the end of the hand. Now assuming that your 
partner is a fourth-best leader — which, let us hope, is 
not paying him too extravagant a compliment — it is 
clear that he holds three of the four unseen clubs higher 
than the 7, and that the declarer holds the fourth. The 
declarer's only high club, therefore, is the ace, king, 
10, or 8, and it may just as well be one of these as 



THE PLAY OF THE HAND 



161 



another. If it is the ace or king, you draw it cheaply 
by finessing the 9, and your partner s suit is at once 
established. If it is the 8, it is immaterial whether you 
put on the queen or 9. The chances are, therefore, 
2 to 1 in favour of the finesse, and although it has the 
disadvantage of misleading your partner as to the posi- 
tion of the queen, it would certainly be the correct play 
if one had so good a hand as to feel confident of regain- 
ing the lead at no remote period. 

Note, — An example of a problem in probability worked out 
mathematically will be found in Appendix B. 



11 



PAET III. 



ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS. 

[N,B. — In the folloivmg hands A and B are akvays 
partners against Y and Z.] 

In some books on Auction Bridge you will see it stated 
that the declarer's first consideration must be to fulfil 
his contract, and that only when this is quite safe must 
he try for the extra trick or tricks which may be needed 
for game. This is all rubbish. In nine hands out of 
ten the game is the thing to go for, always supposing 
that the winning of it is possible. I do not say that you 
should attempt impossibilities, nor is it always worth 
while to go for chances which are very unlikely to turn 
out as you would wish them to ; but you can hardly be 
wrong in taking a fair finesse for game, even if you must 
be one or two tricks under your contract should it not 
come off. 

The following hand is an instance in point. It would 
be very poor play for Z not to try for game though he 

162 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



163 



thereby risks losing his contract. He can make certain 
of this if he pleases, but it is the last game of the rub- 
ber, upon which the whole rubber points, viz., 250, are 
at stake, and consequently he must endeavour to win it 
at all costs. 



11 * 



164 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



Hand I. 



Score : A B, 24 ; Y Z, ; in the third game. Z deals, 
and the bidding is as follows : — 

First round : Z one no-trump " ; A two spades " ; 
Y two no-trumps " ; B " no." 

Second round : Z no " ; A no." 

Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



F's Hand {JDummij). 

Hearts, Q J lo 9 

Diamonds, 976 

Clubs, J 5 4 

Spades, A 3 2 



Z's Hand {Declarer). 

Hearts, A 6 

Diamonds, A K 8 

Clubs, A 10 9 3 2 

Spades, Q 5 4 



A {Leader), 



B {Third Pl<iyer), 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



165 



The first trick is as follows : — 

Y 

















4^ 




A 






if . ^ 









B 



Z 

Z can make certain of the contract by leading out 
ace and 6 of hearts, and going on with the suit until 
the king is played. But if he plays the hand in this 
way he cannot hope to win the game, which is of more 
importance than the contract even. And so, instead 
of going into hearts he should lead a small club to 
dummy's knave. If A has a singly guarded honour 
(king or queen) he will put it on, which will leave Z 
with the tenace over B ; and, in any case, when Y gets 
in with the ace of spades, which suit is certain to be 
led again if A has the lead, a club can be led from the 
table, and Z can finesse. If this finesse comes off, Z 
will win the game with four tricks in clubs, two in 
diamonds, two in spades, and one in hearts. If it fails 
he can at the worst be one trick under his contract. 



166 



ADVANCED AUCTIOK BRIDGE 



Hand II. 



Making Sure of the Contract iclien Game Cannot he 



Score : A B, ; Y Z, ; in the first game. Z deals, 
and the biddmg is as follows : — 

First round: Z "one diamond"; A ''one spade"; 
Y "two diamonds " ; B " no." 

Second round : Z " no " ; A " no." 

Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Won. 



Y's Hand {Dummy). 



Hearts, A Q 9 
Diamonds, Q J 2 



Clubs, K J 10 7 
Spades, 543 



A {Leader). 



B {Third Player). 



Z's Hand {Declarer). 



Hearts, 10 2 



Diamonds, K 9 8 4 3 



Clubs, 965 
Spades, A 8 7 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 
The first four tricks are as follows : — 



Trick 1. 




4* 4> 
* 4- 



B 



Trick 2. 



4» , 4» 
4. •5' 4. 



4. 4. 
4. 4. 
4> 4* 



167 



Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 0. Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 1. 



Trick 3. 



1^ 



A O 

O 



o 

o 
o 



Trick 4. 
















4. 
4> 
4- 



B 



O 
O 

z 

Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 2. Tricks : A B, 2 ; Y Z, 2. 

At trick 5 A leads the 7 of hearts. 
A is niarked with the 10 and 7 of trumps, and there- 
fore Z cannot possibly go game on the hand, however 



168 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



he plays it. This being so, all he need trouble about 
is his contract, which must not be imperilled unneces- 
sarily. If he were to finesse the queen of hearts, for 
instance, B might take the trick with the king, and lead 
the only outstanding club, the 4, which is marked in 
his hand. This would give A a ruff, and if A now led a 
second heart, Y would have to play the ace, which 
would deprive him of the only card of entry for his long 
club. If he were to lead it, A would make another 
trump by ruffing, and if he were not to lead it Z would 
have to lose two tricks in spades. In either case, A 
and B would defeat the contract. Hence, Z must take 
no finesse in hearts, but put on the ace from dummy, 
and lead two more rounds of trumps, the second of 
which will be won by A. This will leave Y with two 
winning clubs, while Z has the 9 to put him in with, so 
that the only other tricks A and B can make are one in 
hearts and one in spades, viz., five in all. Z can get 
rid of a spade on Y's last club, and must make his con- 
tract of " two diamonds." 



ILLUSTEATIYE HANDS 



169 



Hand III. 



Holding up a Master Card for Entry. 

Score : A B, ; Y Z, 0. Y deals, and the bidding is 
as follows : — 

First round: Y ''one heart"; B "no"; Z "two 
diamonds " ; A " no." 

Second round : Y " no " ; B " no." 
Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Z's Hand {Declarer). 
Hearts, Q J 7 
Diamonds, A K Q 10 4 3 
Clubs, A 8 
Spades, 5 4 



Y's Hand {Dummy). 

Hearts, A 8 5 3 2 

Diamonds, 6 5 

Clubs, 9 7 4 

Spades, K 10 3 



A {Leader). 



B {Third Player). 




z 

Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 0. 




4 » 

Z 



Tricks: A B, 1 ; Y Z, 1. 



170 ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 

The first five tricks are as follows : — 



Trick 1. 



Trick 2. 



WW 



Trick 3. 



o o 
o o 






















O 
O 



Trick 4. 



o o 

0% 



0^0 



Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 2. Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 3. 



ILLTJSTEATIVE HANDS 



171 



Trick 5. 



Y 



4. 4. 



A 




4. A 




B 




Z 



Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 4. 



Z's chance of game depends upon his being able to 
discard the 8 of clubs on one of Y's hearts. He can 
afford to play two more rounds of trumps, to force dis- 
cards from his opponents, and should then lead the 
queen of hearts, and pass the trick in dummy, even if 
A covers with the king. For his game is to hold up 
the ace until the third round, and bring in a long heart 
if he can. Thus if the queen of hearts wins, he will go 
on with the knave, and again pass the trick. Or, if the 
queen is taken by A or B, whatever they lead, Z will 
be in again at once, and can continue with the knave of 
hearts, followed by the 7, which Y will take with the 
ace, unless B has shown void upon the second round, 
leaving Y with a tenace over the guarded 10 or 9. A 



172 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



may hold king, 10, 6, 4, for instance, and B the 9 only, 
in which case Y can finesse the 8 against A on the third 
round. But if neither opponent holds more than three 
hearts, Z has a certainty of game, and this is simply 
an extra chance in his favour which may possibly 
materialise. 



ILLUSTKATIVE HANDS 



173 



Hand IV. 



Underplay, or " Ducking: 



Score : A B, ; Y Z, 0. Z deals, and the bidding is 
as follows : — 

First round : Z one no-trump " ; A no " ; Y two 
hearts " ; B no." 

Second round : Z " two no-trumps " ; A no " ; Y 
^*no"; B '^no." 

Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Z's Hand {Declarer) 

Hearts, 7 6 

Diamonds, K 5 

Clubs, A J 9 8 4 

Spades, A K J 10 



Ts Hand [Dummy), 

Hearts, A K 9 8 3 2 

Diamonds, 764 

Clubs, 6 3 

Spades, 9 5 



A [Leader). 



B [Third Player). 



174 



ADYAXCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



The first two tricks are as follows : — 



Trick 1. 



o 



iO o 



O 



o 





Trick 2. 



o o 

0^0 



O 


O 



o o 



"01 



Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 0. Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 1. 



Z's best chance of game is to establish l'"'s hearts, for 
even if he brings off a successful finesse in spades, 
and makes four tricks in the suit, it will only enable 
him to win two by cards, and he would be very lucky 
if he were to establish his clubs with the loss of only 
one trick. So, at trick 3, Z should lead the 6 or 7 of 
hearts, and play a small one from dummy. This 
gives the adversaries the lead, and they will probably 
go on with their diamonds at once ; but, as A has 
obviously led from four of the suit, viz., queen, 10, 9, 2, 
it is evenly divided between them, and they can only 
make two more tricks before Z recovers the lead. 
When this happens, he will put 1^ in with his remain- 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



175 



iog heart, and if both opponents follow, the suit will be 
completely established, and Y Z must make all the re- 
maining tricks. Thus, unless A or B holds four out of 
the five unseen hearts, Y Z win five tricks in hearts, 
one in diamonds, one in clubs, and two in spades, that 
is to say, nine in all, which will make them game. Or 
should B win the third trick and, instead of going on 
with diamonds, lead a club or spade through Z, he must 
not take any finesse, but put on a master card, and go 
for hearts at once. 



176 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



Hand V. 

Playing for a Doubtful Trick Early in the Hand. 

Score :AB,0;YZ,0. Z deals, and declares one 
no-trump." A, Y and B all pass. 
Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Y's Hand (Dummy), 



Hearts, A Q 8 4 

Diamonds, 976 

Clubs, 10 9 7 2 

Spades, K 3 



A {Leader) 



B {Third Player). 



Z's Hand {Declarer). 



Hearts, K 7 3 
Diamonds, 10 8 2 
Clubs, K 8 4 



Spades, A Q J 5 



A leads the 6 



of spades. 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



177 



Z can count four tricks in spades, and four in hearts 
if the suit is evenly divided. In order to win the 
game he must make the king of clubs, and his best 
chance of doing so is to try for this trick at once, 
before his strength in hearts and spades is fully dis- 
closed. So, at trick 1, he should put on the king 
of spades from dummy, and lead the 10 of clubs, 
putting on the king from his own hand, unless B plays 
the ace. If the king of clubs wins, Z next makes his 
three remaining spades, and then goes into hearts, by 
which time it is quite possible one or more of the suit 
may have been discarded. In actual play, B threw a 
heart and gave Z the game ; but even if the king of 
clubs falls to the ace, he is not in much danger, as A 
is not likely to branch to diamonds with no indication 
from his partner of strength in the suit. 



12 



178 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



Hand VI. 

Score : A B, ; Y Z, 0. Z deals, and declares 
two hearts." A, Y and B all pass. 
Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 

Y's Hand (Dummy). 

Hearts, 2 

Diamonds, A 4 3 

Clubs, A K J 4 3 2 

Spades, A 7 5 



A (Leader), 



B (Third Player), 



Z's Hand (Declarer), 

Hearts, A K Q J 3 

Diamonds, 9752 

Clubs, None 

Spades, 10 8 6 4 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



179 



The first trick is as follows : — 
Trick 1. 

Y 




Z 



Z should lead a small club froni dummy, ruff with 
the 3 and lead out his four big trumps. After this he 
can put Y in with the ace of spades, and lead out ace, 
king, knave, etc., of clubs, when, if neither opponent 
held four to the queen originally, and there is no ruffing, 
he will make at least three tricks in clubs, and win the 
game. This is his best chance of doing so, and it would 
be useless to lead trumps until he had established a 
third trick in clubs. If neither opponent holds more 
than four trumps, and all their clubs fall, Z will make 
a little slam. 



12 



180 ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



Hand YII. 

Killing a Winning Card with a Losing Truvvp. 

Score : A B, ; Y Z, ; in the third game. Y deals, 
and the bidding is as follows : — 

First round : Y one no-trump " ; B "two spades " ; 
Z three hearts " ; A no." 

Second round: Y "no"; B ''three spades"; Z 
"no" ; A "no." 

Third round : Y " four hearts " ; B " no " ; Z " no " ; 
A "no." 

Y's and B's hands are as follows : — 



A {Leader), 



Ys Hand [Dummy). 

Hearts, A K 9 8 
Diamonds, 863 



Clubs, 
Spades, 



A K 7 6 
5 4 

Es Hand [Third Player). 

Hearts, 7 

Diamonds, A 2 

Clubs, Q J 9 8 

Spades, A J 8 7 6 3 



Z [Declarer) 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



181 



The first two tricks are as follows : — 



Trick 1. 




Trick 2. 



A 



! I 

' R 



Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 0. Tricks : A B, 2 ; Y Z, 0. 

Practically, A B's only chance of defeating the con- 
tract, and saving the game, is to make two tricks in 
diamonds. Now these can be made at once if A holds 
the king of diamonds, but should this card lie with Z 
he will put it on, probably, if B leads a small one 
through him, and, after extracting the adverse trumps, 
discard one of Y's diamonds on the queen of spades, 
which is marked in his hand. This will be fatal to A 
and B, and to prevent it B must lead a third round of 
spades, when the queen will be ruffed by A, compelling 
Y to over-ruff. Z will have to come to diamonds 
eventually, and if A holds the king, or three to the 
queen, A B will have a fair chance of making two tricks 
in the suit. 



182 ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



Hand VIII. 

Throtving the Lead. 

Score: A B, ; Y Z, 0. Z deals, and declares " one 
no-trump." A, Y and B all pass. 
Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Y's Hand {Dummy), 

Hearts, Q 2 

Diamonds, lo 9 3 

Clubs, Q 9 4 

Spades, J 7 5 3 2 



k [Leader), 



B {Third Player), 



Z's najid {Declarer). 

Hearts, A 10 8 3 

Diamonds, A Q 2 

Clubs, A K 6 5 

Spades, 10 4 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



183 



The first trick is as follows : — 
Trick 1. 





























Z 









9? 



Z's best game is to put the lead back into x\'s hand 
with a heart. It is better that spades should be led 
by the adversaries, and the longer Z keeps off clubs 
the more likely he is to win four tricks in the suit, while 
Y*s queen may be wanted for entry if spades get estab- 
lished. So at trick 2 Z should lead the 3 of hearts to 
Y's queen. A, who has led from king, knave, 9, etc., 
will, of course, put on the king, and as Z is marked 
with the tenace over him, will no doubt branch to 
another suit. If he leads diamonds Z will be good for 
at least two tricks in the suit, and if he leads spades 
a trick or tricks may ultimately be established in Y's 
hand. The worst that can happen is that A should go 
into clubs, when Z will get no advantage from being 
led up to. 



184 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



Hand IX. 



Keeping the Lead aivay from the Dangerous Hand. 

Score : x\ B, ; Y Z, 0. Z deals, and declares one 
no-trump." A, Y and B all pass. 
Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Y's Hand {Dummy). 

Hearts, A g 2 

Diamonds, Q J 9 5 4 

Clubs, A 6 

Spades, lo 8 7 



Z's Hand {Declarer). 

Hearts, Q 4 

Diamonds, A 6 3 2 

Clubs, Q 9 7 5 

Spades, A K Q 



A leads the 3 of clubs. 



A {Leader). 



B {Third Player). 



ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS 



185 



Z must not risk letting B in, because if, instead of 
returning his partner's lead, he branches to hearts, 
the latter suit may be cleared while A or B has a 
card of entry in diamonds, in which case they may 
save the game. So, instead of letting the 3 of clubs 
come up to his own hand, Z must put on the ace from 
dummy and lead the queen of diamonds, finessing 
against B, unless he plays the king. This will clear 
the suit with the loss of only one trick, unless B holds 
all the unseen diamonds, and whether B gets in or 
A, Z cannot come to any harm in clubs. For if B 
leads the knave or 10, Z will cover with the queen, 
and if he leads a smaller card, Z will cover with the 
9 or 7, so that in either case he can only lose two 
tricks in clubs before getting in again. With any luck, 
therefore, Z should make four tricks in diamonds, three 
in spades, one in clubs, and one in hearts, which will 
be enough for game. 



186 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



Hand X. 



Bef using an Unnecessary Finesse, 

Score : A B, : Y Z, 0. Z deals, and declares one- 
diaiQond." A, Y and B all pass. 
Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Ys Hand (Dummy). 

Hearts, A 5 4 

Diamonds, A 3 2 

Clubs, K J 9 6 2 

Spades, Q 8 



Z's Hand {Declarer). 

Hearts, K Q 2 
Diamonds, K Q J 5 4 



Spades, A 6 3 



A {Leader). 



B {Tliird Player). 



Clubs, 



7 4 



illitsteati^t: hands 
The first two tricks are as follows ; — 



187 



Trick 1. 

Y 




Z 



Trick 2. 

Y 

















4* 






A 






A i 















4^ 

Z 



Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 0. Tricks : A B, 2 ; Y Z, 0. 

At trick 3, B leads the 5 of spades. 

Z must on no account give A a chance of making 
the king of spades. He should put on the ace at 
once, and lead three rounds of trumps, taking the 
third with Y's ace, after which he must lead a small 
club from the table and ruff from his own hand. As 
A had only four in suit originally, this will leave Y's 
two remaining clubs established, and Z (after leading 
one more round of trumps, if necessary) can put Y in 
again with the ace of hearts. Z v^ll thus get two 
discards from his own hand upon Y's clubs, and can 



188 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



throw away his two small spades, winning all the 
remaining tricks. By playing the hand in this way 
he must make five by cards and game, unless one of 
his opponents holds all the unseen trumps. 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



189 



Hand XI. 



Making a Card of Entry for Dummy, 

Score : A B, ; Y Z, 0. A deals, and the bidding 
is as follows : — 

First round : A one heart " ; Y " two diamonds ; 
B "no"; Z two no-trumps." 

Second round : A ^' no " ; Y " no " ; B no." 

Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Z's Hand [Declarer). 

Hearts, A J 2 

Diamonds, 4 3 

Clubs, A 7 6 5 

Spades, A K 9 8 



Y's Hand {Dummy). 

Hearts, Q 7 5 

Diamonds, Q J 10 9 8 

Clubs, K 4 3 

Spades, 6 2 



A {Leader). 



B {Third Player). 



190 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



The first three cards played are as follows :- 
Trich 1. 







Y 







































B 



Z wants three tricks in diamonds for game, and as 
the ace and king may be held up against him, it is 
important to have two cards of entry in Y's hand. 
Now A has obviously led from king, 10, 8, etc., of 
hearts, and if Z takes trick 1 with the knave, Y will 
not be allowed to make the queen, w^hereas if Z takes 
trick 1 with the ace, the queen must make if the suit 
is continued. So Z should take trick 1 with the ace 
of hearts, and lead a diamond, going on with the suit 
every time he gets in until he has either made or 
established three tricks in it. Y's queen of hearts and 
king of clubs will enable him to place the lead in that 
hand twice, and unless A brings in a long suit of 
hearts, YZ must win the game. 



TLLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



191 



Hand XII. 

Making a Certainty of Game, 

Score : A B, ; Y Z, 0. Y deals, and the bidding is 
as follows : — 

First round: Y ''one diamond"; B ''no"; Z "one 
no-trump " ; A " no." 

Second round : Y " no " ; B " no." 
Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 

Y's Hand (Dummy). 

Hearts, Q 7 6 5 4 

Diamonds, K Q J 10 

Clubs, J 3 2 

Spades, K 



A (Leader), 



B (Third Player), 



Z's Hand (Declarer). 

Hearts, K 3 2 

Diamonds, 987 

Clubs, A K 

Spades, A Q J 5 4 



192 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



The first trick is as follows ; 

Trich 1. 



Z should lead one of his small spades to Y's king, 
so as to unblock the suit, and then lead a diamond, 
followed by another if the ace is held up. If the ace 
of diamonds is played on the first or second round of 
the suit, Z will be able to put the lead back into Y's 
hand, and must make three tricks in diamonds, two 
in clubs, and four in spades, viz., nine tricks in all. 
If, on the other hand, the ace of diamonds is held up 
twice, Z, instead of leading a third round of the suit, 
branches to hearts, and must make one trick in hearts, 
two in diamonds, two in clubs, and four in spades, 
which comes to the same thing. Thus, Z has a 
certainty of winning the game if he plays the hand 
correctly. 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



193 



Hand XIII. 
Holding up a Tenace over the Exi30sed Hand. 

Score : A B, ; Y Z, 0. B deals, and the bidding 
is as follows : — 

First round : B ''one heart*'; Z ''one no-trump"; 
A "no"; Y "no." 

Second round : B " two hearts " ; Z '*' no " ; A " no " ; 
Y " two no-trumps." 

Third round : B " no " ; Z " no " ; A " no." 

Y's and B's hands are as follows : — 



A {Leader). 



Ys Hand (Dumviy), 

Hearts, K J 6 

Diamonds, 852 

Clubs, 962 

Spades, J 7 4 2 



B's Hand (Third Player), 

Hearts, A Q 10 9 8 

Diamonds, K 9 6 

Clubs, A Q 3 

Spades, 8 5 



Z {Declarer). 



13 



194 ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 

The first trick is as follows : — 
Trick 1. 

Y 




Z 



Z's strength obviously lies in diamonds, clubs, and 
spades, and he can hardly hold more than four of the 
last-mentioned suit, or he would have declared it in 
preference to no-trumps. Also, if B waits to be led 
up to again in hearts, Y can only get the lead once, 
probably, viz., with the knave of spades, and so B is 
safe for one trick in diamonds or two in clubs if 
either be Z's strong suit, as he would cover the 8 of 
diamonds with the 9, or put on the ace of clubs second 
in hand, if led through. But if he opens either suit, 
or leads back a heart, he abandons this advantage. 
Hence his best game is to try and put A in by leading 
the 8 of spades. A is almost sure to have an honour 
in the suit, and will lead hearts through Y again if he 



ILLUSTEATIVE HAKDS 195 

has one. Oq the other hand, if Z puts on a master 
spade, and clears diamonds, B can change his tactics 
and establish hearts, having the ace of clubs to come 
in with. But it is best to try the spade lead first, as if 
A can be got in there is an excellent chance of breaking 
the contract. 



13 • 



196 ADVANCED AUCTION BBIDCxE 



Hand XIV. 

Buffing Partner s Ace to Obtain the Lead. 

Score : A B, ; Y Z, 0. Z deals, and the bidding 
is as follows : — 

First round: Z ''one heart"; A ''no"; Y "two 
hearts" ; B "no." 

Second round : Z " no " ; A " no." 

A's and Y's hands are as follows : — 



Y's Hand (Dummy). 

Hearts, K 8 7 6 5 

Diamonds, 4 3 

Clubs, K 10 7 

Spades, Q 10 2 



A's Hand (Leader). 
Hearts, J 2 
Diamonds, J 
Clubs, J 6 5 4 3 
Spades, J 9 7 5 3 



B 



Z 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



197 



The first trick is as follo^YS :- 
Trick 1. 




A trick 2 B leads the ace of diamonds, and Z plays 
the 6. 

A can see that if B is left in, it ^vill be very embar- 
rassing for him ; for what is he to lead next ? If he 
goes on with diamonds, Y will over-ruff A, and it is 
obviously disadvantageous for him to open clubs or 
spades. A losing trump would probably be the best 
card he could play, but he may be chicane or hold the 
ace only, in which case he cannot get rid of the lead in 
this fashion. And, again, Z is marked with at least 
one established diamond, viz., the queen, and may hold 
more of the suit upon which, after taking out trumps, 
he can get discards from Y's hand. So A's best game 



198 ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



is to ruff the ace of diamonds. His trumps are ab- 
solutely useless to him, and, having got the lead away 
from his partner, he can put a club through dummy. 
This may enable B to make both ace and queen, and 
save the game. 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



199 



Hand XV. 



Bef using an Unnecessary Finesse. 

Score : A B, ; Y Z, ; in the third game. Y deals, 
and the bidding is as follows : — 

First round: Y ''one club"; B ''no"; Z "one 
no-trump " ; A "two diamonds." 

Second round: Y "two no-trumps"; B "no"; Z 
" no " ; A " no." 

Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Y's Hand {Dummy). 



Hearts, A K J 

Diamonds, lo 8 6 4 

Clubs, A K Q J 

Spades, J 10 



A {Leader), 



B {Third Player). 



Z's Hand {Declarer). 



Hearts, 10 9 6 5 

Diamonds, Q 7 

Clubs, 10 9 8 7 

Spades, A 3 2 



200 ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 

The first trick is as follows : — 
Trick 1. 





Y 

























m 





Z must not finesse hearts, because, if he does, and the 
queen lies with B, the ace of spades may be taken out 
of his hand, and then, having no card of re-entry for 
the 10, he will only make two tricks in hearts, viz., the 
ace and king. So in order to make sure of three tricks 
in the suit he should put Y in with the king of hearts 
and lead out the ace and knave, instead of finessing. 
This he can safely do, for A has evidently led from ace, 
king, 9, etc., in diamonds, and Y's 10 guards the suit. 
Playing the hands in this way, therefore, he is sure of 
three tricks in hearts, four in clubs, and one in spades, 
which, with the trick he has already made in diamonds, 
are enough for game. 



ILLUSTKATIYE HANDS 



201 



Hand XVI. 

Giving up a Worthless Finesse, 

Score : A B, ; Y Z, 0. Z deals, and the bidding is 
as follows : — 

First round: Z ''one spade"; A ''no"; Y "two 
clubs " ; B " no." 

Second round : Z " two no-trumps " ; A ''no " ; Y 
"no " ; B "no." 

Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 

Ys Hand (Dummy), 

Hearts, K 

Diamonds, J lo 9 6 5 

Clubs, K 8 7 4 3 2 

Spades, 2 



A {Leader), 



B {Third Player). 



Z's Hand {Declarer). 

Hearts, A 5 4 3 

Diamonds, A 

Clubs, J 10 9 

Spades, A Q J 7 6 



202 ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 

The first trick is as follows : — 
Trick 1. 

Y 




Z 



It is no use finessing spades, because, no matter how 
favourably the suit lies, Z must lose two tricks in it, and 
three spades, two hearts, and a diamond will not enable 
him to win the odd trick even. Z's best chance is to 
establish Y's clubs, and in order to do this he must lead 
a small one from the table at once. There is nothing 
to be gained by putting the lead into his own hand, and 
trying the finesse, because the king must be held up 
until the third round to avoid blocking the suit, and if, 
therefore, A covered the knave with the queen, Z would 
have to let him keep the trick. If the adverse clubs 
are evenly divided, or one of the opponents holds the 
ace single, Y Z will make four tricks in clubs, two in 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



203 



hearts, and the aces of diamonds and spades, viz,^ eight 
tricks in all, with the possibility of being led up to in 
spades. A and B obviously held four hearts each 
originally, so they cannot make more than two tricks in 
the suit. 



204 



ADVANCED AUCTION BBIDGE 



Hand XVII. 



Betaining the Means of Entry. 

Score : A B, ; Y Z, 0. Y deals, and the bidding is 
as follows : — 

First round : Y one no-trump " ; B ''no " ; Z two 
hearts" ; A no." 

Second round : Y no " ; B no " ; Z no." 
Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Ys Hand {Dummy). 



Hearts, 432 

Diamonds, A 6 5 

Clubs, A Q 10 3 2 

Spades, A 7 



A {Leader). 



B {Third Flayer). 



Z's Hand {Declarer). 

Hearts, A K Q J 5 

Diamonds, 832 

Clubs, 7 4 

Spades, 10 9 6 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



205 



The first two tricks are as follows :- 



Trick 1. 















r 

























rwcfc 2. 

































pa 







Tricks : A B, ; Y Z, 1. Tricks : A B, ; Y Z, 2. 



If Z draws B's remaining trumps, and then makes 
an unsuccessful finesse in clubs, he cannot get the lead 
back into his own hand for a second finesse. So, in- 
stead of going on with trumps at once, he should lead 
one of his clubs, and finesse the 10 in dummy. If this 
draws the king from B, Z is assured of at least one dis- 
card, and can probably go game by establishing a long 
club in dummy. If, on the other hand, the 10 falls to 
the knave, and B leads a diamond as he probably will, 
having regard to his partner's discard, Z can put him- 
self in by leading the 4 of trumps from the table, draw 



206 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



B's last trump, and finesse clubs again. He will be 
very unlucky if he finds both king and knave of clubs 
with B, as A's lead of a singleton trump is indicative of 
strength in the three remaining suits. 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



207 



Hand XVIII. 

Threatening a Buff, so as to Draw a Triimp Lead from 
the Adversaries. 

Score : A B, ; Y Z, 0. Z deals, and declares one 
heart." A, Y and B all pass. 

Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Y's Hand (Dummy). 

Hearts, Q 9 4 

Diamonds, 8 

Clubs, A 9 7 3 2 

Spades, Q J 6 5 



A (Leader). 



B (Third Player), 



Z's Hand (Declarer). 

Hearts, K 10 8 3 2 

Diamonds, K Q J 10 

Clubs, 6 5 

Spades, A 4 



208 



ADYAXCED AUCTIOX BRIDGE 



The first trick is as follows :- 
Trick 1. 

Y 























A 









Z is bound to lose one trick in hearts, one in dia- 
monds, and one in clubs, however the hand is played. 

His object must be to avoid losing a second trick in 
hearts, or, in other words, to prevent the knave making, 
in which case he will win the game. But if he attempts 
a finesse, it may fail ; and if he plays for the drop," as 
it is called, his chance of success will be still less. So, 
to get over the difiiculty, his best course is to lead Y's 
single diamond. This trick will be won by the ace, of 
course, and the opponent who holds it will suspect him 
of playing for a ruff, and lead a trump, probably. This 
is just what Z needs to ensure his winning the game, 
for with queen, 9, etc., on the table, and king, 10, etc., 
in his own hand, a trump lead from the adversaries 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



209 



means death to the knave. Z has no occasion to estab- 
lish his diamonds at this stage, of course, and the last 
thing he wants to do is to ruff them, but the enemy 
cannot read his intentions, and are almost sure to fall 
into the trap. 



14 



210 



ADVANCED ArCTION BEIDGE 



Hand XIX. 



Taking it for Granted that a Necessary Finesse Will 
Come Off. 

Score : A B, ; Y Z, 0. Y deals, and the bidding is 
as follows : — 

First round : Y one no-trump " ; B no " ; Z two 
hearts " ; A no." 

Second round : Y ^' no " ; B no." 
Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 

Ys Hand {Dummy). 

Hearts, A Q lo 

Diamonds, lo 3 2 

Clubs, K Q J 

Spades, K J 4 2 



A {Leader). 



B {Third Player). 



Z's Hand {Declarer), 

Hearts, J 7 6 5 3 2 

Diamonds, K Q 4 

Clubs, 9 8 

Spades, 5 3 



ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS 



211 



The first two tricks are as follows :- 



Trick 1. 



Y 



o o 
z 



B 



Trick 2. 



O Oj 



o 
o 
o 



o o 


o 



Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 0. Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 1. 



Z is bound to lose one trick in clubs and another 

in spades, in addition to the trick he has already lost 

in diamonds. In order to make the game, therefore, 

he must bring off a successful finesse in trumps, as 

he can if the king is with A. But A may hold the 

king and two others, in which case it will not do to 

lead a small trump and finesse the queen or 10, for 

before Z can get the lead back into his own hand for 

a second finesse A will have ruffed diamonds probably. 

So, in order to guard against this contingency, Z must 

lead the knave of trumps at trick 3, and, unless A 

drops the king, throw the 10 under it. This will 

enable him to lead a second trump through A at once, 

14^ 



212 



ADVANCED AUCTIOX BEIDGE 



if his finesse is successful, and unless B is void of 
trumps, he (Z) will bring down the king on the second 
or third round. After trumps are cleared, clubs must 
be led, of course, and if Z can get a discard before 
Y is led through in spades,, so much the better. 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



213 



Hand XX. 
Leading Away from a Tenace. 

Score : A B, ; Y Z, 0. Y deals, and the bidding is 
as follows : — 

First round : Y one diamond " ; B no " ; Z one 
no-trump"; A ''no." 

Second round : Y " no " ; B " no." 
Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Y\s Hand {Dummy). 



Hearts, 6 5 

Diamonds, A Q 9 8 7 

Clubs, J 10 9 2 

Spades, A J 



A (Leader). 



B {Third Player). 



Z's Hand {Declarer). 



Hearts, A K J 

Diamonds, 642 

Clubs, K 4 3 

Spades, Q 7 6 5 



214 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



The first trick is as follo\YS :- 
Trick 1. 



i^* 4* 









•!• 4* 






4* 










4* 4- 










4* 





This is rather a tricky hand. Z's first move must 
be to establish diamonds, but he cannot afford to put 
himseK in with the ace or king of hearts in order 
to lead the suit from his own hand, nor would it be 
prudent to try the heart finesse. He is bound to lose 
at least one trick in diamonds sooner or later, and it 
is best to lose it at once, by leading a small one from 
dummy. If the lead goes to A, so much the better, as 
anything he leads must necessarily help Z ; but even 
if B gets in and leads a heart-, which is about the 
worst thing which can happen, no great harm will be 
done, as one at least of B's entry cards will be gone. 
When Z gets in he will finesse the queen of diamonds, 
and if this wins he has an excellent chance of making 



ILLUSTRATIVE HAXDS 



215 



game with four tricks in diaraonds, two in hearts, two 
in spades, and the trick he has already one in clubs. 
A second trick can be won in clubs, but it would be 
rather dangerous to lead the suit at trick 2, because if 
A holds five he will not only make the ace and queen 
but establish a long club, and this may help A B to 
save the game. 



216 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



Hand XXI. 
An Examjjle of Underplay. 

Score : A B, ; Y Z, 0. Z deals, and the bidding is 
as follows : — 

First round: Z "one heart"; A ''two clubs"; Y 
" two hearts " ; B '' no." 

Second round : Z '' no " ; A ''no." 
A's and Y's hands are as follows : — 

Ys Hand {Dummy). 

Hearts, K J lo 

Diamonds, K Q 

Clubs, Q 9 5 4 

Spades, K 9 3 2 



A's Hand {Leader). 

Hearts, 9 7 

Diamonds, 6 5 

Clubs, A K J 3 2 

Spades, A 8 7 4 



Z {Declarer). 



ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS 
The first three tricks are as follows : — 



217 



Trick 1. 



A m 





•2* ^ 
















m 




A 








4- 4- 













o o 

o 
o 



o 
o 
o 



Tricks : A B, ; Y Z, 1. Tricks : A 1 ; Y Z, 1. 
Trick 3. 





4* 4* 






4- 












"A * 


4* 






A 4. 

4- 4- 



Tricks : A B, 2 ; Y Z, 1. 



B cannot be relied upon for a trick in trumps, for if 
be had held the ace and one or two small ones, he would 



218 ADVANCED AUCTION BKIDGE 

have taken out two rounds, probably, instead of return- 
ing clubs, and if his best trump is the queen, it is quite 
likely to be finessed against. So A sees that, in order 
to save the game, he and his partner must make two 
tricks in spades, and the best chance of getting them is 
to lead a small spade at once. If Y does not put on the 
king, B may take with the queen, and return the suit, 
when A will make the game-saving trick with his ace, 
assuming that Z has a third spade ; whereas, if A leads 
anything else, Z will play out the queen of clubs from 
dummy, and get rid of another spade. It is one of those 
cases in which the leader is obliged to underplay the ex- 
posed hand, although by so doing he may not make his 
ace at all. 



ILLUSTEATIYE HANDS 



219 



Hand XXII. 



Avoiding a Dangerous Finesse. 



Score : A B, ; Y Z, 0. Z deals, and declares three 
hearts." A, Y and B all pass. 

Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Ys Hand {Dummy), 

Hearts, K 8 2 

Diamonds, 543 

Clubs, J 6 

Spades, Q 10 4 3 2 



Z's Hand Declarer. 

Hearts, A Q 10 6 5 4 3 
Diamonds, 7 



Spades, K 9 8 



A {Leader). 



B {Third Player). 



ClubSj 



A 2 



220 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



The first three tricks are as follows : — 



Trick 1. 



Trick 2. 


























<0 






























B 


A 






%^ 











































Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 0. Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 1. 

Trick 3. 



t 



9 9 



Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 2. 



Z can make a certainty of winning the game if he 
plays correctly. He must lead a small trump, win with 
the king in dummy (drawing their last trump, viz., the 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



221 



knave, from the other side), and lead back the 5 of 
diamonds, which he trumps in his own hand. Then, 
at trick 6, Z leads the ace of clubs, and at trick 7, throws 
the lead to his opponents by playing another club. If 
they now lead a diamond or a club, Z ruffs in dummy 
and discards a spade from his own hand. If they lead 
a spade, Z has only to play low second-in-hand and 
cannot lose more than one trick in the suit. He thus 
escapes the necessity of taking a finesse in spades, which, 
if unsuccessful, might cost him the game. 



222 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



Hand XXIII. 
Extracting a Dangerous Card of Entry. 

Score : A B, ; Y Z, 0. A deals, and the bidding is 
as follows : — 

First round: A *^one spade"; Y ''two clubs"; B 
'^no"; Z ^'two hearts." 

Second round : A no " ; Y no " ; B no." 

A's and Y's hands are as follows : — 



Y's Hand {Dummy), 



Hearts, 7 5 

Diamonds, A 6 4 

Clubs, A 8 7 

Spades, 5 4 



632 



A's Hand (Leader), 

Hearts, 9 4 3 

Diamonds, K 10 7 2 

Clubs, K 

Spades, Q 10 6 3 2 



B 



Z (Declarer), 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 223 
The first three tricks are as follows : — 



Trick 1. 



Y 
4- 4- 



4> 4» 



B 





Y 








9 






9 9 






9 




9 



Tricks : A B, ; Y Z, 1. Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 1. 
Tricfc 3. 



9 


9 


9 


9 



B 



Tricks : A B, 2 ; Y Z, 1. 



A should lead the king of diamonds, so as to force 
out Y's only card of entry, and prevent his making two 



224 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



or three long clubs after trumps are cleared. If the 
king of diamonds is allowed to win, the game will cease 
to be in danger, as B is marked with the ace of trumps. 
And if, on the other hand, Y takes the king of diamonds 
with the ace, A still guards the suit with the 10, even 
if Z should hold both queen and knave. 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



225 



Hand XXIV. 

Forcing the Adversary to Lead ujj to a Guarded Card. 

Score: A B, 0; Y Z, 0. Y deals, and the bidding 
is as follows : — 

First round : Y " one no-trump " ; B " no " ; Z " two 
hearts " ; A " no." 

Second round : Y no " ; B no." 

Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 

Ys Hand (Dummy), 

Hearts, A lo 6 5 

Diamonds, K lo 2 

Clubs, J 10 

Spades, A 9 7 3 



A (Leader). 



B (Third Player). 



Z's Hand (Declarer). 

Hearts, K Q 9 8 7 
Diamonds, 654 
Clubs, K 6 5 3 
Spades, 4 

15 



226 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



The first four tricks are as follows :- 



Trick 1. 









































4» 





B 



Tricfe 2. 



B 



Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 0. Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 1. 



Trick 3. 





Y 































t 



Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 2. Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 3. 

A's 2 of clubs can hardly have been a singleton, 
for if B had held six of the suit he would certainly 
have tried his partner for a ruff, and hence it may 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



227 



be inferred that A had four clubs originally. Also 
B must have led from four spades, as the 10 is marked 
in his hand by A's playing the knave at trick 2. Now, 
assuming these inferences to be correct, Z has a 
certainty of winning the game if he plays as follows : 
At trick 5 he leads a spade from dummy and ruffs in 
his own hand. Then at trick 6, he leads the king of 
clubs, followed by another club, which Y ruffs, and Y 
Z go on cross-ruffing clubs and spades until all the 
black cards are gone. This brings the lead back into 
Z's hand, and, having won nine out of the first ten 
tricks, he only wants one more for game. So, at trick 
11, he leads a diamond and finesses Y's 10, when B, 
having nothing else to lead, will be forced to come up 
to the guarded king ; or if A puts on the knave or 
queen second-in-hand, Y covers with the king, and if B 
takes with the ace Y must make the 10. Either way, 
therefore, he is safe for a trick in diamonds, which he 
would not be unless he could force B to lead the suit 
up to dummy. 



228 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



Hand XXV. 



Getting Bid of a Card which might Bring the Lead 
into the Wrong Hand. 

Score : A B, ; Y Z, 6. Y deals, and the bidding 
is as follows : — 

First round : Y one no-trump " ; B no " ; Z 
two hearts " ; A no," 
Second round : Y no " ; B no." 
Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Y's Hand {Dummy), 

Hearts, J 3 2 

Diamonds, K Q lo 

Clubs, A K 

Spades, A lo 8 s 4 



A {Leader). 



B {Third Player). 



Z's Hand {Declarer). 



Hearts, K Q 9 5 4 

Diamonds, 875 

Clubs, 6 3 

Spades, J 9 2 



ILLrSTRATIYE HANDS 



229 



The first five tricks are as follows :- 



Trick 1. 



o 



I B 



O 

o o 



Trick 2. 







4» 4* 




4« 






* 4- 











Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 0. Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 1. 



Trick 3. 



9 










B 


9 


9 





























































Tricks : A B, 2 ; Y Z, 1. Tricks : A B, 2 ; Y Z, 2. 



230 



ADVANCED AUCTION BKIDGE 



Trick 5. 




Tricks : A B, 2 ; Y Z, 3. 

Z's game is, of course, to take out the reraaining 
adverse trump, and finesse spades against A. If he 
goes on with trumps at once, however, and leads, and 
finesses, the knave of spades, B may win with the 
queen or king, make the knave of diamonds, which is 
marked in his hand, and then put Y in with a club, 
when the second round of spades will have to be led 
from Y^'s hand instead of from Z's. So to guard against 
this the ace of clubs must first be led from dummy, and 
then Z puts himself in with the queen of hearts, and 
finesses the knave of spades. B can now only make 
the knave of diamonds, after which he must either lead 
up to Y in spades, or play a diamond or club which Z 
can ruff. Thus Z can finesse spades against A again, 
and unless B holds both king and queen, he will win 
three by cards and game. 



ILLUSTBATIYE HANDS 



231 



Hand XXVI. 



Avoiding a Finesse ichich icoicld Leave the Exj^osed 
Hand- Blocked if Unsuccessful. 

Score : A B, ; Y Z, 0. Z deals, and the bidding is 
as follows : — 

First round: Z ''one spade"; A "no"; Y "two 
hearts " ; B ^' no." 

Second round: Z "two no-trumps"; A "no"; Y 
"no"; B "no." 

Y^'s and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Z's Hand {Declarer). 

Hearts, A 5 

Diamonds, A K 7 6 

Clubs, J 

Spades, A J 8 4 3 2 



F's Hand {Dumviy). 



Hearts, K J 10 4 3 2 

Diamonds, J 5 

Clubs, A Q 7 6 

Spades, 9 



A [Leader). 



B [Third Player). 



232 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



The first two tricks are as follows : — 



Trick 1. 




Trick 2. 




Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 0. Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 1. 



Z's great difficulty here is the lack of entry cards in 
Y's hand. If he finesses against the queen of hearts, 
and his finesse fails, Y'shand can be shut out altogether 
and the game confined to diamonds and spades, with 
the result that he will not make more than two by 
cards. And, on the other hand, if he tries for the 
''drop," and the queen does not fall, he will have 
established a trick for the opponents which he cannot 
afford to lose. Instead of incurring either of these 
risks, it is better to try his luck in spades, and, at trick 
3, he should accordingly lead the 9 from the table, and, 
if not covered by B, let the card run up to A. A will 
probably return his partner's lead of diamonds, when 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



233 



Z wins with the king and leads out ace and another 
spade. Having plenty of cards of entry in his own 
hand, he can afford to lose three tricks in the latter suit, 
provided this does not involve him in letting B in to 
make one or more established diamonds. But if the 
spades lie badly for him he must fall back on hearts. 



234 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



Hand XXVII. 

Bluffing the Declarer out of a Finesse, 

Score : A B, ; Y Z, 0. Z deals, and the bidding is 
as follows : — 

First round : Z one heart " ; A two spades " ; Y 
"three hearts " ; B ''no." 

Second roiand : Z " no " ; A no." 
Y's and A's hands are as follows : — 



Y's Hand {Dummy), 

Hearts, Q J 4 3 

Diamonds. Q 5 

Clubs, A K J 9 

Spades, J 9 2 



A's Hand [Leader), 
Hearts, K 7 
Diamonds, K 6 
Clubs, Q 10 2 

Spades, A K 10 5 4 3 




B 



Z {Declarer). 



ILLTTSTEATIVE HAXDS 



235 



The first trick is as follows : — 
Trick 1. 

Y 




Z 



A wants three more tricks to save the game, and, 
having regard to Y's hand and the bidding, it is 
obvious that he cannot count on much help from 
his partner. Now he is good for a trick in both 
hearts and diamonds if he waits to be led up to in 
these suits, and it would certainly be very unwise to 
open either of them with the queen visible in Y's hand. 
But if he goes on with spades the ace will be ruffed, 
probably, and the knave be made good, which may give 
Z the chance of discarding a losing club. So he has 
no alternative but to open clubs, and he should accord- 
ingly lead the 10, to make Z think the queen lies with 
B, and prevent him finessing. This, though it may 



236 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



seem very courageous, is out and away his best lead, 
for if Z has three or four clubs he is practically certain 
to finesse the knave, unless the suit is led by A, whereas 
he is quite likely to be bluffed " by the irregular lead 
from queen, 10, 2. 



ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS 



237 



Hand XXVIII. 



Getting Bid of a Blocking Card. 



Score : x\ B, ; Y Z, 0. Z deals, and declares one 
no-trump." A, Y and B all pass. 
Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Y's Hand {Dummy), 

Hearts, lo 9 8 

Diamonds, 76532 

Clubs, A 

Spades, 9843 



Z's Hand (Declarer), 

Hearts, K 6 4 3 

Diamonds, A Q 

Clubs, Q J 10 9 8 

Spades, K J 



A (Leader). 



B (Third Player). 



238 ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



The first three tricks are as follows :- 



Trick 1. 



Tricfc 2. 



9 


9 






















9 



Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 0. Tricks : A B, 2 ; Y Z, 0. 




Tricks : A B, 2 ; Y Z, 1. 



At trick 4 Z should lead his remaining heart, the 6, 
and discard the ace of clubs from dummy. This will 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



239 



place the lead with A, and give Z a free run in the club 
suit when he gets in again, with only the king against 
him. Moreover, A is certain to lead up to Z in 
diamonds or spades, as the discard of the ace will 
frighten him ofl clubs, and this is preferable to attempt- 
ing a finesse, which may go wrong, on a lead coming 
from dummy. Also, the sacrifice of the ace cannot 
cost Z a trick unless the king is held single by one of 
his opponents, which is a very unlikely contingency. It 
is really a hindering card, and should be got rid of in 
the manner described. 



240 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



Hand XXIX. 



A7i Unusual Coup to Place the Lead Twice in the 



Score : A B, ; Y Z, 0. Z deals, and declares two 
hearts." A, Y and B all pass. 

Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Ys Hand (Dtmimy), 

Hearts, 7 2 
(Diamonds, A J lo 3 



Spades, 7654 



Z's Ha^id {Declarer). 

Hearts, A K J 10 9 8 

Diamonds, Q 2 

Clubs, K 

Spades, K 10 9 8 



Exposed Hand. 



Clubs, 



10 9 8 



A {Leader), 



B {Third Player). 



ILLUSTEATIVE HAKDS 



241 



The first two tricks are as follows : — 



Trick 1. 





Y 








4* 4* 


4» if. 




4* 


4* 




* 4- 




II 




Z 



4* 
4* 
4- 



4. 4. 
4». 4» 
4''^4« 
❖ 4» 



4- 
4- 



Tricks : A 1 ; Y Z, 0. Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 1. 



With five hearts against him, Z'sbest chance of catch- 
ing the queen lies in a finesse (which may, however, be 
postponed until the second round), and it is obvious that 
spades must not be led from his own hand, or he will 
probably lose three tricks in the suit. Now in order to 
get a spade lead from dummy, and also to take the 
trump finesse, the lead must be placed in that hand 
twice, which can only be done by a successful finesse in 
diamonds. But if Z leads the queen, A cannot be 
relied upon to cover with the king, even if it should lie 
in that hand, and so Z may only get the lead into Y's 
hand once. To get over this difficulty Z must play as 
follows : At trick 3 he leads the ace of hearts, followed 

16 



242 



ADYAXCED ArCTIOX BRIDGE 



by the 2 of diamonds, upon ^vhich Y plays the 10. If 
the finesse is successful, Y leads his second heart, upon 
which Z finesses the 9, and, after drawing the adverse 
trumps, he can put Y in again to lead up to the king of 
spades. Playing the hand in this way, Z need only lose 
two more tricks, viz., in spades, if the cards lie well for 
him ; and it should be noted that no distribution of dia- 
monds can be relied on to give him more than one dis- 
card in spades, which would not help matters. He 
must consequently rely upon the diamond finesse, but 
not upon making more than two tricks in the suit. 



ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS 



243 



Hand XXX. 



Counting the Opponents Hands, 



Score : A B, ; Y Z, 10. Z deals, and declares 
one no-trump." A, Y and B all pass. 
Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Ys Hand {Dnmmy). 

Hearts, J 7 6 2 

Diamonds, 8543 

Clubs, A 5 

Spades, J 7 6 



Z's Hand {Declarer), 

Hearts, A Q 
Diamonds, Q 10 9 



Spades, A K 8 4 3 



A {Leader), 



B {Third Player). 



Clubs, 



K 9 2 



244 



ADVAKCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



The first nine tricks are as follows :- 



Trick 1. 




Trick 2. 



4* 
4" 



Y 
4- 



4* 4i 
4- 4 



Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 0. Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 1. 



Trick 3. 



Tricfc 4. 





4 ♦ 




























B 












A 


























\ 



B 



Tricks ; A B, 1 ; Y Z, 2. 



Tricks : A B, 1 ; Y Z, 3. 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



245 



Trick 5. 



Trick 6. 



S? 
9? 



t 



o 

o 
o 



o o 

^ 

z 



O 

O 



Tricks : A B, 2 ; Y Z, 3. Tricks : A B, 3 ; Y Z, 3. 



Trick 7. 



4. 4. 



4. 4. 



Trick 8. 



9 ^ 



9 








9 


9 



t 



9 9 



Tricks : A B, 3 ; Y Z, 4. Tricks : A B, 3 ; Y Z, 5. 



246 



ADTAXCED ArCTIOX BEIDGE 



Tr/cA' 9. 



9 9 
9 9 



t 



B 



Tricks : A B, 3 : Y Z, 6. 



Z's play is quite simple if he draws the proper de- 
ductions as to the cards left in A's and B's respective 
hands. From B's leading the 6 of diamonds at trick 6, 
and afterwards playing the 2, it may be inferred that 
he had live of the suit originally, viz.. king, knave. 7. 6, 
2, and the position of the king and knave is further 
confirmed by A's having to play the ace to beat the 9. 
Thus B has three diamonds left, king, knave, and 7, 
and his remaining card must be a heart, since he has 
no more clubs or spades. Also A has two cltibs left, 
and two hearts, and the fact that he has thrown a club 
instead of a heart at trick 9 points to his holding the 
king of the latter suit with a guard to it. Xow if these 
inferences are correct. Z cannot catch the king of hearts, 



ILLUSTEATIYE HANDS 



247 



or make either opponent lead up to his tenace ; but by 
leading out the ace, which will draw B's last heart, and 
then putting him in with the queen or 10 of diamonds, 
B can be forced to lead diamonds up to dummy, and 
the 7 will be captured by the 8 at the thirteenth trick. 
Thus, by playing the hand in this way Z makes the two 
further tricks he needs for game, against any defence 
by the opponents. 



248 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



Hand XXXI. 

A Bold Bid for Game. 

Score : i\ B, 24 ; Y Z, ; in the third game. Z deals, 
and declares " one no-trump." A, Y and B all pass. 
Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Ys Hand {Dummy), 

Hearts, Q 9 2 

Diamonds, A 5 2 

Clubs, A J 10 8 3 

Spades, A 9 



k [Leader). 



B {Third Player) 



Z's Hand {Declarer). 

Hearts, A 5 3 

Diamonds, Q 9 4 

Clubs, Q 6 2 

Spades, 10 8 7 2 



ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS 



249 



The first trick is as follows : — 



Triclc 1. 



Y 



A 




9? s? 



B 



Z 



If Z can catch the adverse king of clubs he will win 
the game ; but, instead of putting himself in with the 
ace of hearts, and trying the club finesse at once, he 
should first lead a small diamond from dummy. If the 
king is with B, and is not put on, Z's queen takes 
the trick, and the game is virtually over. Or if B 
wins with the king, a second trick will have been 
established in the suit, and this may enable Z to go 
game, although the club finesse is against him. On 
the other hand, if the king is with A, he will doubtless 
go on with hearts, and, on winning with the ace, Z can 
try the club finesse with the certainty of winning two 
by cards, even though the king is upon the wrong side. 



250 



ADYAXCED ArCTIOX BEIDGE 



Should B win trick 2 with the king of diamonds, 
and open spades, Z can turn the suit twice ; so 
very little risk is incurred by playing the hand in 
this way. 



ILLUSTEATIVE HAXDS 



251 



Hand XXXII. 



Mashing Strength in the Adversary s Suit, 

Score : A B, 24 ; Y Z, 10 ; in the third game. Z 
deals, and declares " t^YO no-trumps." A, Y and B all 
pass. 

Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Y^s Hand {Dummy). 



Hearts, 854 

Diamonds, 3 2 

Clubs, A 9 6 

Spades, 10 8 4 3 2 



A {Leader). 



B {Third Player). 



Z's Hand {Declarer). 



Hearts, A K J 
Diamonds, A 6 5 4 



Clubs, 732 
Spades, A 9 5 



252 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



The first three cards played are as follows : — 



Y 




A 



B 



9 9 



Z's only possibility of raaking his contract and game 
is to bring in Y's long suit of spades. But it will be 
fatal to his chances if, instead of going on with their 
original lead, the adversaries branch to clubs, and so 
Z should mask his strength in hearts by taking trick 1 
with the king. At trick 2 he leads the 9 of spades. 
If A takes this trick he will probably go on with hearts, 
as he will place B with the knave, and, if so, Z wins 
with the latter card and leads out the ace and 5 of 
spades, which will very likely clear the suit, while Y is 
left with the ace of clubs for entry. Should B, on the 
other hand, take the second trick and be able to return 
a heart, Z must win with the ace ; but in this case A 
can have had no more than five originally, and if 
spades clear Z still makes the odd trick. It is a case 
in which a coup has to be played to deceive the 
adversaries. 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



253 



Hand XXXIII. 



Pittting the Adversaries in a Diler^ima by Throiving 



Score : A B, ; Y Z, ; Y deals, and the bidding is 
as follows : — 

First round : Y one no-trump " ; B no " ; Z " two 
hearts " ; A no." 

Second round: Y''no"; B no." 
Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Ys Ha7id {Dmimy), 

Heaxts, A 7 3 2 

Diamonds, A 4 

Clubs, J 8 6 

Spades, A 10 9 5 



the Lead. 



A {Leader), 



B {Third Player), 



Z's Hand {Declarer), 



Hearts, Q J 10 8 4 

Diamonds, K 5 

Clubs, 10 3 2 

Spades, K J 6 



254 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



The first three tricks are as follows :- 



Trick 1. 




Trick 2. 




Tricks : A B, ; Y Z, 1. Tricks : A B, ; Y Z, 2. 
Trick 3. 

Y 



9 s? 

9 ^ 



9 9 
9 9 
9 9 
9^9 



9 


9 


9 

9 
9^ 


9 


9 


9 


9 



B 



Tricks : A B, ; Y Z, 3. 



Z can make a certainty of winning the game if he 
plays his cards correctly. He should not risk a finesse 
in spades, but, at trick 4, lead his remaining diamond 



ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS 255 

to the ace, and then throw the lead to the opponents 
by playing a club from dummy. They can now make 
three tricks in clubs, after which they must either 
open spades, when Z is safe for three tricks in the 
suit, or else lead a diamond or fourth round of clubs. 
If they choose the latter alternative Z ruffs in dummy, 
and discards a spade from his own hand, which will 
enable him to trump the third and fourth rounds of 
the suit. Thus in either case he goes game. The 
crucial point is to get rid of the ace of diamonds before 
throwing the lead. 



256 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



Hand XXXIV. 



Trying for Alternative Chances, and Unblocking. 

Score : A B, ; Y 0. Y deals, and the bidding is 
as follows : — 

First round : Y ''one club"; B "no"; Z "one no- 
trump " ; A " no." 

Second round : Y no " ; B " no." 
Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — ^ 



Z's Hand {Declarer), 

Hearts, A Q 4 

Diamonds, K Q 10 3 2 

Clubs, K 

Spades, A 9 8 7 



Y's Hand {Dummy). 



Hearts, 7 

Diamonds, 8 

Clubs, A Q J 4 3 2 

Spades, 65432 



A {Leader). 



B {Third Player), 



ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS 



257 



The first trick is as follows : — 



Trick 1. 



Y 



A 



9 ^ 



9 9 




9 9? 



Hi 




z 



Z can make game if either of the black suits is evenly 
divided, and as he can only put the lead into Y's hand 
once — i.e., by taking over the king of clubs with the ace 
— he must try spades first. At trick 2, therefore, Z 
leads the ace of spades and, if both opponents follow 
suit, goes on with the 9. If both opponents follow suit 
again, spades will now be cleared, and Z has certain 
game. Probably a heart will be returned, in which case 
Z wins with the ace, leads out the 8 and 7 of spades, 
and then puts the lead into Y's hand in the manner in- 
dicated. Eesult : two tricks in hearts, four in spades, 
and three in clubs, at the very least. Even if a club is 
led at the fourth trick, it will not embarrass Z, for he 
can throw away the 8 and 7 of spades on the queen and 



17 



258 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



knave of clubs, and thus unblock the suit for Y. {N.B. 
— This is the objection to leading a small spade instead 
of the ace at trick 2. viz., the danger of a club being re- 
turned, when spades will be hopelessly blocked.) On 
the other hand, if spades do not clear in two rounds, 
Z can try clubs. If both suits clear he will make a 
little slam probably. 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



259 



Hand XXXV. 

Declining to Bnn any Bisks ivith Game on the Table, 

Score : A B, 24 ; Y Z, ; in the third game. Z deals, 
and declares "one no-trump." A, Y and B all pass. 
Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Ys Hand [Dummy). 

Hearts, A 3 2 

Diamonds, K Q 4 

Clubs, K 7 6 

Spades, K J 8 5 



A (Leader), 



B {Third Player), 



Z's Hand {Declarer). 

Hearts, Q J 4 

Diamonds, 10 3 2 

Clubs, A J 9 8 3 

Spades, A Q 



17 



260 



ADVANCED AUCTION BEIDGE 



The first trick is as follows : 
Trick 1. 




Although it would appear that A has led from 
strength, it is just possible that the 8 was the top card 
of a short suit, and that B has held up the ace in order 
to obtain complete command of diamonds. Having 
regard to this risk Z must not take any finesse which 
might put the lead into A's hand, but should play as 
follows : At trick 2, Z puts himself in with the queen 
of spades, makes the ace, and then leads the queen of 
hearts. If A covers, Y wins with the ace, but otherwise 
the queen is allowed to run up to B, and whether it 
wins or not a second trick in hearts is established. 
By this means, Z makes absolutely certain of game, 
which is very important at the score, as he must make 



ILLUSTRATIVE HANDS 



261 



four tricks in spades, two in clubs, two in hearts, and 
one in diamonds. If the queen of hearts is allowed to 
win, at trick 4, he can lead the knave of clubs, and 
finesse up to B if A does not cover, with a view to 
securing one or two over-tricks. 



262 



ADVANCED ArCTIOX BRIDGE 



Hand XXXVI. 



Using the Adversaries Suit to Unblock. 

Score : A B, ; Y Z, ; in the third game. Z deals, 
and the bidding is as follows : — 

First round : Z " one no-trump " ; A two hearts " ; 

Y " three clubs " ; B three hearts." 

Second round : Z " three no-trumps " ; A no " ; 

Y '^no"; B "no." 

Y's and Z's hands are as follows : — 



Ys Hand (Dumviy). 

Hearts, 543 

Diamonds, 10 2 

Clubs, A 8 6 5 4 3 2 

Spades, 9 



A {Leader). 



B {Third Player). 



Z's Hand {Declarer). 



Hearts, A 2 

Diamonds, A Q 6 5 

Clubs, Q J 10 9 

Spades, A J 8 



ILLUSTEATIVE HANDS 



263 



The first three cards played are as follows : — 
Trick 1. 



























9 9 






A must have led from five hearts, as he would not 
have bid ''two hearts" on four to two honours, and 
he cannot hold three or he would have led one. Also, 
his lead shows that he has not more than five in suit, 
so B must have three and Z can do no good by holding 
up the ace. Everything depends upon Z being able to 
bring in Y's clubs, but even if the king and 7 are in 
different hands the suit is unfortunately blocked by Z's 
sequence. This difficulty can be got over by passing 
the first round of clubs, and allowing the king to make, 
but then A and B must take four tricks in hearts and 
one in clubs, putting Z one under his contract. So his 
only chance is to play as follows ; Z takes trick 1 with 
the ace of hearts, and returns the 2. A and B will go 
on with hearts, probably, and if so Z discards three of 
his clubs, to unblock the suit. Then, if the two ad- 
verse clubs are divided, Z makes contract and game, 



264 



ADVANCED AUCTION BRIDGE 



for he will be in at once whatever A leads after his 
hearts are finished. Of course, if the coup fails, Z 
will be several tricks under his contract, instead of only 
one, but as it is the last game of the rubber the risk is 
worth taking. 



APPENDIX A. 



A Table of Leads and Conventions. 

The following are the leads and conventions which 
are generally recognised at Auction Bridge : — 

At No -trumps. 

From Ace, king, queen, etc., lead king, followed by queen. 
Ace, king, with seven in suit, lead king. 
Ace, king, with six or less, lead fourth best. 
Ace, queen, knave, etc., lead queen. 
Ace, knave, 10, etc., lead knave. 
Ace and small ones, lead fourth best. 
King, queen, knave, and one small, lead king. 
King, queen, knave, and two or more, lead knave. 
King, queen, 10, etc., lead king. 
King, queen, with seven in suit, lead king. 
King, queen, with less than seven, lead fourth best. 
King, knave, 10, etc., lead knave. 
Queen, knave, and 10 or 9, lead queen. 
Knave, 10, and 9 or 8, lead knave. 
10, 9, 8, etc., lead 10. 

At the Trump-suit Game, 

From Ace, king, queen, etc., lead king, followed by queen. 
Ace, king, etc., lead king. 

265 



266 



ADVANCED AUCTIOX BEIDGE 



From Ace, king, only, lead ace, then king. 

Ace, queen, knave, etc., lead ace, followed by queen. 

Ace, and three or more small ones, lead ace. 

King, queen, knave, and one small one, lead king. 

King, queen, knave, and two or more, lead knave. 

King, queen, etc., lead king. 

King, knave, 10, lead knave. 

Queen, knave, and 10 or 9, lead queen. 

Knave, 10, and 9 or 8, lead knave. 

10, 9, S, etc., lead 10. 

The discard is from weakness, unless a call is shown. 

The leader's partner asks for a ruff by playing first 
the higher, and then the lower, of two indifferent cards, 
in the trump game. 

The same sigaal is used to show four of the leader s 
suit at no-trumps. 



APPENDIX B. 



A Question of Probability. 

The declarer has very often to calculate whether it is 
better to try and establish a long card of a suit of which 
he and dummy hold seven cards between them, or to 
attempt a finesse in another suit. 

The problem may be briefly stated thus : The de- 
clarer is in," as the result of the first trick, in a no- 
trump hand, and has a suit of four hearts, we will say, 
consisting of ace, king, queen, and another, while there 
are three little ones in dummy. What are the odds as 
to the suit being evenly divided, so that he may be able 
to make his small heart on the fourth round ; for it is 
not an even-money chance, as many people suppose ? 

What we wish to arrive at is the chance that one 
of the declarer's opponents — A, say — has exactly three 
hearts, in which case B, too, must have three. Now 
the number of possible hands which A can hold is the 
number of combinations of 24 things taken 12 at a 
time, since the card which he has played to the first 

267 



268 



ADVAXCED ArCTIOX BEIDGE 



trick is known, and does not come into our reckoning. 
And this number is represented mathematically by the 

124 

expression o^C^^, which equals y^tyo- 

And the number of these hands in which A will hold 
exactly three hearts, and no more, can be arrived at as 
follows : In the first place, we have to find out the number 
of ways in which the three hearts he is to hold can be 
selected out of the six which the declarer cannot see. 

I A 

This is ^.Cg, or equals 20. And now, assuming 

that A holds three hearts, we have to reckon the 
number of different ways in which the rest of his hand 
can be made up of cards which are not hearts. This is 

118 

obviously ^gCg, or ^^j^ ; and if we multiply this expres- 
sion by 20 we get the total number of hands which it is 
possible for A to hold in which three hearts, and no 
more, will be found. And, lastly, by comparing this 
number with the total of all possible hands which A 
can hold, mthout any limitation, in the foim of a 
fraction, we find that the chance of A holding exactly 

u . • -^Cs X ,,C, 2Q| 18|12|12 noo 
three hearts is or 124,9,9 = 3059 ' 



APPENDIX B 



269 



that the odds are rather less than 2 to 1 against the 
even distribution of the suit. 

But suppose the declarer puts hearts round once, 
and both opponents follow suit. This must obviously 
affect the odds, for one chance is now eliminated, viz., 
that of A or B being void. 

And, treating the problem in precisely the same w^ay 
once more, the number of possible hands for A is now 

22^11' equals i > number of ways in which 

A can hold two out of the four remaining hearts is 

or equals 6. And the number of different ways in 

which the rest of his hand can be made up, assuming 
that he holds just two hearts and no more is, as before, 

|18 . . . 

' ^^^^ multiply this expression by 6, instead 

of 20, we get the numerator of our probability fraction, 
122 . 

while is the denominator, and it becomes 

6 |18|11|11 55 • f 1 2 

, ^ = To^, approximately ^. ihus the odds 

|22|9|9 133' '^5 

are now only 3 to 2 against the even distribution of the 
suit. 



270 



ADVAXCED ArCTIOX BEIDGE 



And, lastly, let us suppose that hearts are put round 
twice, and both opponents follow suit. 

The number of possible hands for A, now that he has 

|20 

followed to hearts twice, is 20^10, equals jy^jjQ j 

the number of ways in which one heart can be selected 
for him out of the two which remain in is obviously 2. 
And the number of different ways in which the rest of 
his hand can be made up, assuming that he does hold 

this one heart and no more is, as before, 7^ ; so that 

^ . ^ 21 18110110 10 

our probability traction now becomes |9Q|9|9 ~ ^ Jq' 

or approximately ^. 

Thus it is now rather better than an even-money 
chance that the declarer will be left with a long heart 
if he plays another round of the suit. 

This illustrates the general method of calculating 
card chances, but of course it is possible to simplify our 
arithmetic sometimes. For instance, in the last case 
we have considered, let us suppose that the two hearts 
remaining in after the suit has been round twice are 
the knave and S. The chance thai one of these — the 



APPEXDIX B 271 

knave, say — is in A's hand is obviously equals ^ ; 
and, assuming it to be there, the chance that the 8 lies 
with B IS j^. Thus, 9 >^ ][9 represents the chance or 
the knave lying with A and the 8 with B ; and, similarly, 
^ X ^ represents the corresponding chance of the knave 
lying with B and the 8 with A. Adding these two ex- 
pressions together, we arrive at the fraction as repre- 
senting the joint probability of both distributions, viz., 
the chance that the two cards are in different hands. 



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